Madera Stage Racin'

I like this picture, and not because my butt looks good (it doesn't, and it should be stamped with "Wide Load"). I like the colors, and the flowers, and the sunshine.

So, Madera! (How many blog posts have I started with "So, ____!"? Quite a few, I'd say.) Anyway, I've been super tired all week, super lazy about blogging. Still feeling lazy, so I'm going to go with the ol' standby and copy and paste the report I wrote for my coach.

Sooo . . . things went pretty well this weekend. The crit was good, as you know, and really happy with 2nd. There was a break going up the road that had the girls I knew to be the fast TT riders, and I was able to power up to them without dragging anyone else with me. There were only 3 laps to go at this point, so we were able to stay away, then I sprinted to 2nd.

I ended up 5th in the time trial. I decked out the road bike with my aero extensions, and some borrowed aero wheels. It was really windy out there, so I'm not absolutely positive that the the disc wheel helped a lot since I spent a lot of time trying to not get blown over, which I think kept me from going as hard as I could have. My average power was 240 watts for the 27 minute effort.

The road race didn't go as well as I'd liked. On the 2nd lap I dropped my chain at the base of the first roller before the feed zone. Couldn't get it back on, and I had to STOP and put it back on. Lame. I had to chase for a little while. I saw the pack round the corner, and the girl who was leading GC (who is a pro triathlete) looked back, saw me chasing, and attacked the pack. Chase chase chase. Things slowed down a little bit, eventually, and I got back on. Unfortunately, I think I burned a number of my matches doing it. Then, 5 miles before the finish, my teammate, who was helping me stay protected, got caught in a pretty bad crash (she was OK) but I was on my own at the finish. The triathlete girl went at the beginning of the first roller before the finish. I was pretty close to the front, but the girls in front of me were just letting her go. I decided to try to go with her hoping I'd get a gap on the rest of the group, but I couldn't hang. Then a group of 6 caught me, and I couldn't quite stay with them. The girl who was in 6th in GC, 30 seconds back from me, was in the group of 6, so I just tried to minimize the damage and hang on to my 5th place GC. I was able to, so that was cool, but I would have liked to do better in the road race. Ah well. I got a number of upgrade points from the crit and my GC result.

And . . . my TT bike arrived today! Just not in time for Madera. Haha, well, I'll have it for the next one. Anyway, I'm feeling fit and ready for more racing!

I feel a little self conscious putting in stuff about my average power for the TT (god, she only did 240 watts? What a loser.) But I'll get over it. Anyway, my coach said that was really good, and I'm getting stronger (which I knew, but it's always nice to hear it from the expert).

Later today I'm driving down to Grass Valley, then tomorrow I'm racing the Bariani/Zamora Road Race, then the Land Park Criterium on Sunday. I took it pretty easy this week and I'm looking forward to doing some hard work for the team (both are 1/2/3 races). I'm hoping that 4 weeks from now I'll have the last of my upgrade points and I'll be permanently racing with the 1/2 team.

I'm sick of 3s races - everyone wants points, so no one will take any chances, and it leads to negative racing. I'm as much to blame as anyone. At the road race on Sunday I wanted to attack soooo bad (because I was bored as hell) but sat back and sucked wheel (I actually took a pull or two, unlike a number of people) so I could get that one extra upgrade point. Weak. But whaddya gonna do? The really frustrating part was the two teams that actually had some numbers (5-6 riders) and no one anywhere near the top 5 GC standings, and yet wouldn't do a lick of work. If I'd been in that position I would be attacking non stop. I mean, what do you have to lose? So anyway, this was kind of a long ramble, but the point is I can't wait to be in the 1/2 races, so I don't have to play the silly upgrade point games. This weekend is also the San Dimas Stage Race, followed, of course, by Redlands. Next year, so help me, I will be racing down there.