CA Racing

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!

Back in the USA

(Tibco stringing it out at Roeselare)

My spring classics experience ended on a high note at Roeselare. Some hills, some cobbles, and a cobble climb (the kemmelberg!) - a little bit of everything. But the best part was that our team really came together after weeks of racing with each other and the whole race we were in breaks or creating them. In the end, our last break was caught with only a couple kilometers to go.... We didn't get the result we wanted, but we were all on a high from a solid team effort and ready to go crush the next race...

Unfortunately, that was the end of the spring classics for the team. Afterwards, Megan and I had an epic adventure home (it included broken down cars, late night frites with a random guy in Eke, and camping out in the airport), while the other girls headed to France for a bit of rest before the Tour de L'Aude. I was sad to leave just as I was getting adjusted to the European way... narrow roads, crazy cobbles, road furniture, and funny languages... but happy to return to all the goodness of being home.

After a week of jetlag, the racing resumed! I headed off to arKansas for the Joe Martin Stage Race. It was a bit of a shock to have wide, smooth roads with no cobbles or obstacles anywhere in sight. But it was great to return to the "midwest" which feels like my cycling home... and nice to see so many friends and familiar faces! The racing went well overall for our team... despite a series of crashes on the last day which didn't quite go our way, we ended up with a podium and a 4th place in the GC.

After another long journey home, I was zonked and ready for some rest and some real home time...

(This is how tired I was... I wish these were my pets!)

Ice Cream!

The Ice Cream Truck came to our Belgium home today!

I had a very yummy post ride treat --- Mmmmmm!

Fleche

(Huy is painted all the way up the finishing climb)

We found some hills in Belgium this week at the Fleche Wallonne world cup. It was my favorite course so far. I really liked the hills... except perhaps for the finishing hill of this race which we had to do twice!

The Mur de Huy is only 1.3km and averages 9.3%. This doesn't sound soooo bad, but averages can be deceiving. The hill actually starts out not too steep and then kicks straight up almost vertical into the sky. If you were to walk up it, you'd probably need some climbing gear.

The hill was quite a tease for me. Before I knew it, I could see the 500m to go sign which means the top is only 500 meters away. This is not very far at all in biking distance (this isn't even very far in running distance). And the sign came so quickly after the start of the Huy that I thought the climb would soon be over.

But then it took quite some time to actually pass the 500 meter sign. Unfortunately, at this point I was working very hard to defy gravity and didn't recalculate the time I expected it might take to get to the top.

After quite a long time, the brain kicked in and says "ok -- i think we should be at the top by now." Then I look up to see the 250m sign. Now there was a bit of confusion as the 500m sign definitely passed ages ago. Then there was a bit of dread when I realized this tortuous ascent is still far from over and may last forever. But there was no time to dwell on these facts because I had to focus on not toppling over in front of hundreds of spectators.

The remaining thought process went somewhat like this:

225m to go

when am i ever going to get to that 200m sign?

200m to go

i made it! i made it! i made it to the 200m sign!

200m to go (thought 2)

i still have 200m to go? am i moving? keep turning the pedals.

150 to go

keeeeeeeeeep tuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrnnnnnning the pedals.

125m to go

turn turn turn turn the pedals. turn turn turn. don't stop -- you might fall over. turn turn turn.

100m to go

i think i might survive

50m to go

the road is flattening! maybe i can coast in now??

48m to go

nope -- gotto keep pedalling! pedal pedal pedal!

25 to go

the road is flattening -- wooo!! I'm gonna make it!!

And then there was a bit of excitement mixed with total exhaustion once I crossed top. Had I been a little more experienced in this race, I may have tried a couple of my teammate's strategies. One good one is to simply zig-zag back and forth across the hill. While this greatly reduces the grade of the hill, it does increase the distance you must traverse to the top and makes the distance to go signs even more irrelevant. Brooke notes that this strategy is particularly useful when both of your tires have most certainly, definitely gone flat.

The best strategy, however, is the Mackie "push push" strategy. Instead of silently hoping in your head that the hundreds of screaming, energetic fans would give you a push, be proactive. Actually ride along the edge of the course and yell out "push push" as you pass very close to the enthusiastic fans. Apparently this results in a few turbo boosts on the way up!

Or you could just have climbing super powers like Ruth and fly up the hill, but I'm not sure how to obtain these secret powers. So the team plan was to get our superhero to the hill in good position so she could fly away. The team raced super well and everything unfolded as planned. Ruth flew up the hill the first time and was in the winning breakaway ready for a winning flight to the finish. Unfortunately bad luck is sometimes a part of bike racing and 4km from the finish, her wheel got caught in a crack and the day was over. Luckily she is ok! And we are ready for another great race tomorrow -- hopefully luck will be on our side!

(This little guy has been monitoring our training rides -- we should be good to go tomorrow!)

Gelderland Take 2

Last year's Ronde Van Gelderland was my first UCI road racing experience. And it was a shock!! A field of 200 riders fighting for position from the gun... even though the first 7km is supposed to be "neutral". Last year I was losing that fight badly, barely making my way past the middle of the pack and rarely near the front. Eventually I really lost the battle when I got mixed up in *this* disaster and ended up riding the rest of the race in the car (summary here). Nobody on our development squad actually finished the race, but it was a good learning experience for all.

This year I was a little more prepared for what I was getting myself into so the shock factor wasn't there, but the battle from the gun still ensued. One of my teammates witnessed three crashes within the first 7km (the "neutral" part of the race). There were many more close calls throughout the race as we fought for precious space near the front of the peloton. But eventually we reached the climbs and the peloton spread apart and split into a smaller front bunch. The whole team survived the break up and rode a really strong race. Highlights include Megan off the front for half an hour, a Team Tibco and Cervelo chase down to pull in two attackers, and 4th and 10th place finishes by Brooke (aka trousers) and Mackie.

All around, this race was much more successful than last year. There were times of frustration being stuck in the pack, but also times when I was able to get to the front -- I definitely need to keep working on position, but compared to my first Gelderland experience, it was a world of difference being able to negotiate through a big pack. Being a part of an all around solid team effort also brought a new element to the Gelderland experience. Cycling is a whole extra level of fun when you are part of a cohesive team.

Next up tomorrow is Fleche Wallone...

Here is a glimpse of the finishing hill. The Mur de Huy is a 1.3km climb averaging over 9% grade with some sections spiking to 25% grade. Hopefully I don't have to walk the bike up :)

Germany!

With a week of no racing, we took a day to explore across the border into Germany -- my first time ever into the country of my grandmommy's ancestors.

For a pictoral recap of our explorations, check out Megan's blog here

Racing begins again tomorrow!!

More Drenthe!

Saturday and Sunday brought more Drenthe races with lots of cobbles, narrow roads winding through farmlands and quaint towns, and even a climb up a garbage mound (they don't have natural hills in this region, but there is a steep steep garbage pile).

The start of these races is a fight for position because once the race hits cobbles and crosswinds, it gets blown apart into small groups and you don't want to be stuck in the back. The start of yesterday's race highlighted this fight for position. We started outside of town and proceeded in a neutralized pack to the town square where all riders must sign in for the race and then line up. Sign in is on a stage with one set of stairs leading up to the stage. Now you might envision the pack rolling in and riders proceeding up the stage in an organized fashion and then calmly making their way to the start line. That's the scenario I was imagining as we came into town. But instead, people started getting off their bikes as soon as the stage was in sight, throwing them down in every which direction, and running toward the stage. There was a crazy mob flooding the stairs, crawling up the sides of the stage, and pulling themselves up onto the stage floor sans stairs. A pile of people surrounded the sign-in table pushing towards the pens. Then a run back to the bike and on toward the starting line. You'd think that we were late for the start or something, but we still had 20 minutes to just wait on the starting line.... everyone just wanted to be in a good position for the start.

So the goal of the race was position, position, position. Saturday's world cup was going along well -- the whole team was hanging out towards the front, ready for the cobbles. We were winding through Wezup -- the last town before the cobbles and I was pleased to be sitting towards the front and excited for the cobbles to come when all of a sudden a girl to my left decided to slide across the road, take out the girl in front of me and form a pile of bike and body right in my path! I was on the side of the road (a pretty tree lined road) and there was no where to go but into the mangled pile -- the bike hit and i took a dive straight towards a tree. KaBooM! I hit pretty hard and hurt all over.... but as I slowly assessed the situation, nothing seemed to be broken or bloody (no worries mom :). Just a lot of bruises. By the time I was back up, the pack was gone into the cobbles, i was in a haze, and my race was over. But I got to hop into the team car and watch the rest of the race live. I must admit that there are some boring moments driving along at 40km/hr when you can't see much. But also some very exciting moments -- like watching my teammate bridge to the winning break! And some amusing moments -- like when the caravan is forced to stop and I look out my window to see all the DSs and mechanics lined along the side of the road for a quick pee - ha! At the end of the day, the team had one crash and one flat, but also a 6th place finish in a world cup!!

The next race came quickly and brought more cobbles, more climbs up the garbage hill, and lots of wind. The wind proved to be the brutal factor for the day... lining the race out and splitting off groups forwards and backwards. In the end, there was a lead group of 18 riders, a chase group of 11, and a big pelaton... and many riders off the back. There were several times that I thought I was gone off the back of the race. In my attempt to stay very far away from the trees (all the roads are lined with them!!!!) I did not hold a great position. But I kept chasing and chasing and somehow managed to keep getting back to the peloton.... only to be pulled along with the rest of the peloton at 100km. So, in the end, only 29 riders finished. Two of my teammates finished in the chase group (they got soooo close to the lead group!). It's pretty crazy to start a race with 166 riders and finish with 29. I think Paris-Roubaix had a better finishing ratio yesterday!!!

Next up --- Gelderland. Until then, the team is enjoying a week of riding around Schoonard, playing bananagrams in our camp house, and eating frites mayo.