Kern. (Yeah, that's the most imaginative thing I can come up with for a title. So? You think you can do better?)

Back to the real world . . . as I count the money I'm supposed to be depositing over and over and over and over again because it never seems to add the same, I'm deeply distracted by the Bangles' Manic Monday playing on the radio. How stupidly apt.



Despite strong premonitions of doom as last weekend approached, I survived Kern. I can't even count the number of times this weekend I thought my brain was going to melt out my ears. So . . .


My tt on friday was, er, not very good. It was blazing hot and there was a headwind both ways. How is that even possible? Er, yeah, and when I got back to the tents Barrett, one of our fellas, told me that my wheel had twisted and was dragging on my brake. Um, yeah, right, I know how to tighten a quick-release. Really I do. I just thought the time trail wouldn't be hard enough without the added resistence of a dragging brake. Right. So that was a bummer, but it was neat seeing all the Bellas roll in after the TT with identical expressions of horror on their faces. Marian SoCal joined me there and we proceeded to get lost on the way to the hotel, and then lost on the way to dinner. How many Chester Aves. are there in Bakersfield? Er, 3 that I've counted so far!


Woke up bright and early to drive out to the circuit-y road race on Saturday. It was a really neat little valley with a couple of rolling hills. And it was actually kinda green and cool once we got away from Bakersfield. Anyway, the whole group seemed into having a nice easy ride and saving their energy for the hill climb in the afternoon, which was fine with me. We all sprinted for the time bonus points (which ended up being pretty meaningless after all was said and done, but they're still fun). All the girls in the 3s were cheerful and nice and it was a very pleasant little racey non-race. Going into the finish I found myself on the front, and decided to stay there since it was better than sprinting from the back. With about 30 ft to the line I kinda resigned myself to mid-pack, but was totally thrilled to see Jenna sprinting around me and a couple of others to take the win. She had a totally impressive burst of speed up that hill. We sat around under the tents afterwards eating all the yummies that had been set out on a table and trying to stay cool and chatting about our races. It was really nice.



We packed up (well, mostly the guys packed up for us) and headed over to hotter-then-hell-Havilah for the hill climb. Everyone rode pretty mellow up to where it took a serious turn for the steep, and then the climber girls hit the gas and we all fell into our respective places. I saw Jenna chasing one of the girls down up the hill from me and was stoked to hear that she caught her. I know this is kinda sick, but I really enjoyed the climb. It was a super fun little twisty road, and the higher we got the cooler the air felt. There were some nice little tailwind sections that made me feel like super woman (if super woman was a mid-pack cat 3) and coming around one corner to see and hear Bob Liebold playing his odd silver clarinet was definitely a highlight. Plus, the whole thing was a mile and 1/2 shorter than I'd anticipated, even if the last 1K was the longest I've ever ridden. But at the top there was a big table laid out with watermelon, and it was a ripping descent back to the cars. Well worth it. I think I was 6th? Something like that.



Sunday was another early day, but we only had 2 laps of the course to look forward to, because some of the other 3s had petitioned to take it down from 3 laps. Whew, good call. It was soooo hot!!! Marian SoCal attacked mercilessly from the get-go much to my glee and the frustration of the other teams. It was awesome. About halfway up the main climb in the first lap the group was whittled down to five of us in the lead - me and Jenna and three others who rounded out the top five, so that was cool. Everyone was really friendly again (the girl who won is crazy fast and also insanely nice. Seriously, it's insane how nice she is. Like, she needs help learning how to be mean.) and worked together and kept the pace high. We stuck together up the main climb on the second lap, but things kinda fell apart on the descent and even more so on the final grunt, which was the hottest, steepest, mostest awfullest climb ever. Fella Tyler dumped some cold water on my back as I was approaching the line and it was the greatest thing ever. Jenna was 2nd, ahead of me, in 5th. But, notably, I beat the next person back by 16 minutes! The break was smokin'. It was way fun, and even funner to hose myself off with cold water afterwards. Oooh, nice.

But enough about me. My teammates are awesome, and I wish I could race with the 35+ ladies because they have so much fun and work sooo well together. No, I take it back, cause me and SoCal and Jenna had a blast, too. In fact, I just have such a tremendous amount of respect an admiration for all my teammates. It's wonderful. And the awards were awesome, and the whole thing was a blast. What else can I say? I guess just that it was well worth the incredibly long, long, hot hot hot drive. And I can't wait for the next one. :)

Now I'm drinking a big RedBull and eating cherries and rice chips and trying to get motivated to get some work done before I pass out at my desk. What a way to start the week.