It was nice to have two weekends of racing in my backyard, with a free weekend in between for mom to visit!
The first weekend of CA racing started with with the premier edition of the Scott's Valley Grand Prix on Saturday night followed by the Sacramento Grand Prix Sunday morning. With much of our team competing in the Tour de L'aude, we had a small and mostly local squad for the races (me, megan, ali, and mer)... unfortunately, we didn't bring our sprinting power along so our strategy was to go for a break. This strategy made for a fun and aggressive race at the Scott's Valley GP and eventually a break got off. Ali was right on the attack and I followed a wheel to join the break of 6. We ended up with a 3rd place and the whole squad in the top 10 -- not bad without sprinting legs.
Afterwards, it was off to bed to get ready for an early departure to Sacramento. We wanted to create another break on Sunday, but with a flat, wide-open course, trying to get away was futile. In the end, it came down to a sprint and Mer took the final podium spot in 5th.
The promoters at both races made an extra effort to highlight the women's races which was a welcome change. The women even had higher prize purses than the men! A reverse from the typical status quo. A big thanks to these promoters for supporting women's cycling!
That week, more racing came my way as the Tour of CA passed through my town. It was fun to watch the early part of the stage on TV and see the race pass through my training grounds before riding into town to watch the finish live! It was pretty cool to see such a big race come through... but as I stood and watched the big time riders come by, I was a little sad that I couldn't be out there racing as the Amgen Tour of CA has no women's event. Hopefully the work of promoters who support women's cycling will one day pay off with a world class women's tour in our backyard.
(Levi coming to the final corner)
The next weekend was the first weekend in a while without a race. Mom came to town and we had fun exploring the beaches, making dinners, and shopping for a wedding dress. While I always love to race, it is nice to have a relaxing weekend with family every once in a while.
(mom on the beach)
Racing resumed last weekend with a hot and long climb over Mt. Hamilton and a speedy, flat Memorial Day Crit. Megan, Ali, and Ruth were all in town for the racing so we had a good squad. Between the two races, Team Tibco took home a 1st, a 2nd, a 3rd, a 4th, and a 5th -- a little photo editing and here we have a full Tibco podium!!
Up next I head to Tulsa Tough (will be fun to head back to the midwest), then to Clarendon Cup (all the way over on the other coast), then back west for Tour de Nez.... lots of racing which should be good prep for Nationals at the end of June!
