Mothballs 09! The "real" start of my season.

This weekend was the start of the SoCal road season, in the form of the Poor College Kids RR and the infamous Mothballs Criterium, which happens to be just about in my backyard!

I flew home from Italy on Friday, after 4 hours of trains, 14 hours of flying, 4 hours of waiting in train stations and airports. Needless to say, I didn't really know what time it was or where I was most of that time. In addition, the digital entertainment was messed up on my flight from Frankfurt to SFO, so I saw the same movie twice! (and only one).

So in a brilliant move, I get up the next morning to go race my bike! The road race was a W3/4, and it was a beautiful course (if you are a good climber). My race was slowy slow slow until the turn around (it was out and back), and then things picked up on the way back. The race basically all came down to the one long climb, which cracked my airplane-legs to a crisp. Ouch. I got gapped on the hill, and there were 13 people up the road. I chased and chased with another girl, TTT style, and buried myself trying to catch up. I just about made it. Got by the following car (once I got the driver's attention...he didn't see me and the lane was too narrow to go around on the outside without violating CL), but alas just caught on to the pack AS THEY WERE sprinting. Oops. 14th place.

Sunday was the crit! I am a better crit racer than road racer, even though the crits always freak me out at the start. This one was huge! They were running 1/2/3/4 all together, and the field was huge. I didn't have any teammates in the race, and some of the teams were heavily stacked, and I saw a lot of 1s and 2s so I knew it would be hard. My strategy was simple, ride smart, ride safe, follow anything that goes down the road, and go until you crack. My legs felt surprisingly OK in warmup, I think the Jet legs are finally flushing out, and I was fully warmed up and ready by the 3pm start time. I had seen my male teammates put in some superb results earlier in the day, and I wanted to do well, too.

The first couple laps were tame, a couple little surges but nothing much. I was just sitting in, surveying the field, figuring out who was going to be the action for today. I was hoping for speed, so that it would be safer. I love to corner and descend, so the faster the better in a crit. I covered a couple of little attacks, and then about halfway in, I was sitting mid-field when I saw a break go. I had a feeling it might stick, so I gunned it around the outside. I saw my friend Heather having the same thoughts, but she was on the inside. I hooked onto her wheel, told her I was there, and we bridged up together, both working hard. Yay! The break was now 7. I looked back and saw a big gap--no one else was coming. We organized quickly and started motoring. I knew it was goign to be a hard 30 minutes if we were going to make this stick. We worked well together, and I even won a prime, and lost one, too. Anyway, we were all getting tired near the end and I knew we had left some horsepower back in the main field, so I didn't wnat to let up. My heart rate was in the 190s most of the break, and I was fatiguing. I was going too hard to eat my gu, so I was also probably needing fuel at that point. With 3 to go, I really didn't want to get caught, so I buried myself. I pulled way too much at this point...but I honestly didn't know how much gap we had. At least no one can complain that I didn't work hard enough! Everyone was tired, and after I pulled the entire last lap, the others in the break managed to sprint around me. I know, I know, bad move....but I would rather get top 6 (which is what I got, 6th) and have worked hard, than to let up and get swallowed by a motivated main field. :-) Learning....after the finish I learned that we had a huge gap and there was no worry of the chasers. Oops!! Anyway, the girls in the break were strong and I was thrilled to have the legs to hang on with them. I was the only cat 3 in the break, and the next highest 3 finisher was 11th or 12th! I learned a few things today:

1. Crits really are fun, even when your race is at 3pm and most of the fans have gone home to watch the super bowl.
2. The ChickenRanch Skinsuit really is magical!
3. It helps to have someone to tell you how much gap you have on the main field
4. It is worth the effort to be in a break. Safer, and just plain awesome to work that hard.
5. Riding hard with the guys for the past year has really boosted my power.
6. My heart rate really does go to 203!! (ack!)

Road season 2009 is ON!

Ciao!!
(pictures later if there are any)

More Sorrentine Sites!

I can't believe Cars drive on these little alleyways...and fast, too!

A Sorrentine Dog

Walking in the rain...Shopping is even fun in the rain!

Ciao!!

Ciao from Sorrento!

Well, I made it to Italy. 21 hours of planes, trains, (buses), and automobiles! Wow! It is beautiful here...A bit foggy this morning, but it was supposed to be raining and it's not, so I'll take it! My hotel room as a nice view...

The view from my room :-)

I already had Pizza...and all I can say is wow, why don't they make it like that in California??? :-) I also passed a wine store on my walk...where you could buy wine by the liter out of barrels. They let us taste them all, too! 1.95euro per liter, not bad! And no, it wasn't like the wine my dad used to make in the basement...

Ciao!

Climbing Gibraltar

Photo by Carson Blume

I just thought this was an amazing photo. We had a local "race" this weekend...a hillclimb up Gibralter, our local tough climb. Some of this area burned in a recent forest fire...and it was looking even more rugged than usual.

Nothing like an intense Hillclimb to jump start the season! I haven't hurt so bad since, well, the last cross race!

Ciao!

PS. Oh, and my teammate Susie won the overall, and I won the 'under-40' women's division. Yippeeeeeeeee.

Learning.

It is always fun when you finally figure out something new. In my case, it was during my last cyclocross race when I finally learned how to 'leap' back on the bike after barriers. And even better when someone captures the event on camera!

"stop sucking, already!!"

is the motto of the day. Ok...so you had to be there.




So this fall, I have decided to take up 'cross. Motivated by some friends who were always talking about how much fun it was, my desire to improve my bike handling skills, my desire to not get lazy/fat in the off-season, well, and just curiousity caused me to try cyclocross this year. I was a little late getting started...I just started practicing 2.5 weeks ago, but now it is all systems go! My first race was last weekend, but I had a busy week, and didn't quite ever get around to writing a race report. So today I have 2 race reports! I'll try to keep them short.

SpookyCross (Irvine): This was my first-ever 'cross race. The course was pretty easy as far as cross courses go, which was good for my first race. I took the line with a LOT of other women...Dot said it was the biggest women's so-cal cross race ever! I took off fast at the start, and got a good position, and then just rode hard. I slid out in one turn, and fell over another time when a guy crashed right in front of me leaving me nowhere to go. Nothing like a little dirt to make things fun. I ended up in 3rd place! It was really fun. My new training buddy and friend, KimL, got 8th (it was her first race, too). Very fun all around. There were 5 or 6 santa barbara 'crossers there and it was so nice to have people cheering and encouraging. And I've never gotten a beer on a road podium. Sweet!

ConvertCross (Ventura--Lake Casitas): This race seemeed like it was at home, since I pass by Lake Casitas on bike rides on a regular basis. Let me just say that the local effort was outstanding, and it was great to see people just coming out to cheer us on! Awesome. So I raced the 3/4's again. There was again a strong field. I didn't have a good start position, but on the first straightaway I used my road skills and powered around most of the field into a good spot in 3rd. I sat there for awhile, and even made it up to 2nd for awhile before dropping my chain. Not only did I drop my chain, but it got all tangled in my derailleur and was a big old mess. I did catch up again, and the girl in 2nd and I battled it out for most of the race. My turning still needs some serious work...but I feel good about the barriers and runups. I also was thrilled that I was able to bunny-hop a little log... ( I just learned how to do this a couple days ago...so it was awesome to do it right in a race, more than once!) Afterwards, I was so tired I had to just sit on the ground for awhile so as not to pass out. Another 3rd place! Yippeeeeeee.

Up and over

Battling it out

My cheering section was, well, in a league of their own! Marian gets the award, though :-).

Ciao!! (photos were taken by RTinney)

Nat the Brat

This blog is called 'of Dogs and Bike Racing,' after all, so it would be good to occasionally put some 'of dogs' content up! Well, today, there is actually canine content worth bragging about! Little Natalie, despite her small stature, used her good looks, athletic prowess and sweet personality to pull out a huge win on Sunday! She was winners b*tch (it is what they call a female dog after all) for a 4 point major, and then took best of winners as well! She couldn't have showed better for me, and was so much fun! Plus, she has let her win go directly to her head, growing an insatiable ego that seems to have affected the 'manners' section of her brain. Although I can't be certain which dog did it, one of them decided to take a bite out of a cake on the counter last evening when I had folks over! I'm guessing it was Miss Natalie...

In our class...round 1.

Best of Breed Competition, Round 3

Finally the "win" shot. The "win" photo is the hardest part for me!