Movin' on Up

Saturday, February 28,2009
Merco Criterium: Women's 3/4

Dino and I left home around 5am for the two hour drive down 99. After checking in, I did the same hard warm-up on the trainer beforehand that I used before the Cal Aggie Crit. I used to be afraid of wasting my energy and tiring my legs out, but have learned that a good warm-up prepares the body for any hard efforts off the line. I saw bella-fella Tyler W. and he gave me a good talk through of the course.

It was my first time on the course and I was a little surprised that nobody wanted to do a free lap to inspect it. Was position that important with such wide open roads? I had no problem moving up quickly. It was easy to outmaneuver girls through the fun little schwoopy corners with barriers.



We had a good field of crafty 3/4 women and plenty of active teams. There was one obvious strength in a solo girl sponsored by Whole Foods. She was off the front and in front the whole time. I stayed right on her tail an tried to keep anything from getting away. In the first couple of laps I was stuck in no-woman's land after a prime sprint and I bridged up to the two girls in front. One of the girls wasn't going to work with her teammates back in the field and we sat up. Attacks came from several different teams including Colavita and Roaring Mouse.

When it came down to the final lap, I maintained my good position. After the final corner several things happened in retrospect: I should have shifted to one harder gear and got out of the saddle, I waited too long before sprinting all out, and I should have let the teams do more work since I was solo. We were placed separately so I think I ended up 7th in the 3s (official results aren't out yet). I got a little $ for lunch on the way home.

Despite that I am really happy with myself. I felt in control of the race and kept a really good position. I felt really strong (a good indication of things to come). The high end sprinting will come with spring/summer and track racing! It amazes me how far women's racing has come in just the last couple of years. The speed and skill level has definitely increased. This is a race I want to do again.

Cal Aggie Cry-tier-ee-um

Last Saturday was the first race of the season for me. I was much more mentally prepared than last year. Dino has been focusing my workouts on speed-work and convinced me to do a harder warm-up. It was nice to race later in the day with the 1/2/3's. We had a nice little safe field of 26ish. Teammate Soni and I spent the first lap up front at a reasonable pace. From there on, it's like a song that got faster and louder. My old friend Mary (Vanderkitten) controlled a lot of the race-- toying with us really. I watched her draw people out by hammering up front and getting a little gap, just watching who would follow. I tried to stay on her tail-- She could have led me out for a prime but she was just too fast! It was suprising that she didn't take it in the end. She ended up 2nd to Cal Aggie Amanda. Touchstone looked strong with Kelly and Carol contesting the prime sprints. I ended up 10th place. I was very happy with that. Good times!

When Dino analyzed my power files later, I had gotten all personal bests (except for 1 second watts). He raised my threshold by 20 watts. A big jump! Amazing after being off my bike for a week with a stupid chest cold. It re-inspires me to work hard and look forward to a good season.

Stats: Average Speed- 23, Normalized (average) power 244 for 50 minutes

Rubbed the Wrong Way

Yesterday was quite interesting. When the river ride rolled out, it was obvious that racing was going to start soon-- I could almost smell the testosterone in the air. It was one big swirly pack and there wasn't much wind to boot. My friends Heather and Jenn showed up-- a nice treat to have other ladies in the peloton, although I do tend to get more competative. It's good practice marking someone!

Things were great until after the first sprint. On the way back through the big bend my quads started to ache and my breathing became labored. It didn't make sense considering how good I've felt lately. Maybe I rode too hard on Thursday? Maybe my lack of sleep was catching up with me? It kept getting harder and harder until I couldn't match the efforts of the pack and drifted off the back. I turned right to catch back onto the group in the inner loop and failed to keep up with them.

I was pretty upset and confused. Yeah, I got teary eyed and had to try not to beat myself up too much. Soon, I was pushing over 200 watts just to go 15mph. There wasn't any wind. Hmmm... Strange. I heard a hissing sound. I stopped and realized that BOTH BRAKES were fully engaged. My hoods had finally slipped forward so much that they pulled the brake cables, keeping the brakes in the on position. It probably accumulated over time, hitting all of the lovely potholes on the garden highway. Boy, I felt relieved and a little frustrated.


Col du Galibier

Blown Away

Okay, so I've looked at my schmarmy "price on joy" title for too long now-- I just haven't had much to say. Last Saturday's River Ride was a Belgian's Delight-- which means hang on for dear life. The North wind's a'blowin'! I have had to learn to ride elbows out in the gutter fighting for a wheel like a lamb on it's momma's teat. The pain is enough to cry for your mommy. There are some people I've heard in the peloton that say "I love it when it's like that!" Posh-- those are the type who can crank out 400+ watts for a long time. The wind is a "selective" factor (for those of you that don't know selective= you are going to get your ass kicked if you aren't really strong or skilled. I remember racing in the Martinez Crit in the rain a few years ago, which is technical. People were getting shelled left and right and the announcer says "This is a selective course." Uh, yeah). The bright spot is that in the past getting dropped meant never seeing another soul. This time I was with 20 odd wankers who went straight. I looked around and thought, "hey, these be some strong peeps!" Maybe I'm stronger.

I hope it isn't as windy this Saturday.

You can't put a price on joy.

After a hectic couple of weeks running around Christmas shopping, I was starting to feel worn down by the holiday more than anything else. Saturday seemed far removed from that, however. On that day, a special group of people gathered at Steve Rex Cycles to have a raffle for not just one but two of Steve's custom hand-made bikes.

Steve was badly injured last month on the River Ride, suffering a horribly fractured hip and elbow, an especially terrible thing for someone who makes a living on his feet. To make maters worse, his teenage daughter tripped into a campfire, getting 2nd degree burns on her arms. Dave Burke of Rio Strada Racing got a great idea a few weeks ago to have a raffle for one of Steve's bikes. The idea was to sell tickets for $10 a pop. Anything in excess of the $2500 grand prize would go to the family. He had no idea how big it would get! The raffle raised almost $30,000!

Before we drew the names at the raffle, Steve and his wife, Peggy, said a few words. He talked about how he was overwhelmed by the response from people. Peggy talked about how it made the last 20 years of his work seemed validated. To me it seemed really simple. You can't put a price on joy. A beautiful custom built bike makes joy in a person's life. Think of all of the happiness he has created for people, not just by making nice bikes, but by being a good person--someone down-to-earth who listens and creates. It's only karma paying him back. Now if that isn't a Merry Christmas, I don't know what one is.

These are the Days of the Peloton

yet another episode...

Yesterday I piled on the usual winter layers for the 45 minute ride to Midtown Sac for the River Ride. I felt pretty good after a good night's rest and being loaded up on way too much junk food on the last day of school before winter break. I felt that little squeeze of anxiety when a lot of the big guns showed up -- Jesse Moore, Mike Sayers, Chad Gerlach, etc. and I realized a little north wind was blowing. "This could hurt", I thought. My buddy McCaw asked, smiling, on the roll out "Are you going to hang on?" I pantomimed holding onto my handlebars as hard as I could. I used all of my wheel-sucking powers and remembered what Sarah Bamberger said about suffering "is all in your head"

I made it through the first sprint. I saw someone make a U-turn without looking, putting a Team City guy into the farm ditch. I stayed with the group for the inner loop until the last left turn on the levee. Damn, that thing always gets me when my legs are hurting at the end of the ride. I came off the levee and dangled precariously off the back, letting a gap build. I spun, remembering not to jam it into a harder gear. I felt a hand on my back pushing me, then pulling my wind vest, and the voice of Dino saying "Dig Deeper". I shouted a few choice words including "help!" I was mad at all the yayhoos behind me not helping fill the gap. It never occurred to me that I could be their only hope. Luckily, the group slowed before the final sprint and Dino came around at the last minute to pull us back into the fold. Victory!! Dino was cheering while I tried to uncross my eyes.

Happy Thanksgiving

Sacramento's 21st Annual Thanksgiving Ride

Vince rallies the troop and declares "No Racing"!