This weekhas consisted of: Riding hard
Mood: Hurting a lot
Future plans: Getting ready to kick some butt at Eugene Celebration.
Currently: tired and getting ready to go to sleep so I can ride at 7 tomorrow morning before an 8 hour day of work.
I’ll write more later.
I just noticed after looking at my pics and my blog titles that there seems to be a recurring theme of pain…it makes me realize, once again, that endurance athletes must have something a little off in their brains to think this type of thing is fun….
Also, I had a massage yesterday…it was awesome – and then I had a hot tub night with the girls – it was double fun. I’m all relaxed and ready to feel more….
Ah! You thought I was going to say pain! Nope, I’m ready to feel more sunshine on my face as I experience some more…
Okay, okay… some more PAIN!
Well, this weekend Chris and I headed up to Portland on Friday for him to race in the HealthNet Portland Twilight Crit. A lot of big names showed up, and it was a fast race. Chris did some chasing and breaking away, and getting caught – and ended up coming in 18th (which was still in the money), so that’s good. For a more detailed description see Chris’ website
The next evening was SunSet Criterium. This short .5 mile loop wraps around Bethany village paking lot and surrounding streets. It was an interesting shaped loop – probably one of the most creative I’ve seen, with a small hill and descent. I didn’t feel much like racing, but when I found out that there were only 5 girls racing, I signed up – $$$$. Anyway, my plan was to just conserve, because I would need all the energy I could get for the TT championships the next day. Well, we started out – one girl went off the front a little, and we only chased a little – it was really early in the race. She ended up getting the first prime – and tuckered out a little, so we pulled her back in. She stayed on the front and pulled though, so I was content to ride her wheel for a while. During this time I kept thinking – hmmm…now would be a good time to break – because she’s really tired….but a few more minutes passed, and I thought – now’s not a such a good time because people are rested up – well, I was wrong. People were more tired than I thought. We went up the hill and around the corner, and I easily slid past her – and I was off. I was off for about 2 laps, “laying the hammer down” as the announcer said – and I thought – ” KAREY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE! CONSERVE GIRL! CONVSERVE!” So, I decided to stay off until the next prime. So, I did. $30 dollar prime to a local restaurant. Not bad. I soft pedaled and was caught soon thereafter – I had shattered the 5 person field though, and there were only 2 girls that had chased me. So, i tagged along on their wheel. I stayed there until about 12 laps to go, and got in the rotation. (I was actually a little surprised they didn’t yell at me for not pulling because I stayed on the back for quite a while) – oh well. Their loss. Anyway, I managed to miss a $100 gift cert prime by a hair and managed to get the next $100 gift cert. prime. The sprint came – one girl went around me on the 2nd to last corner and the girl in front of me didn’t grab her wheel, so she slipped away just before the last corner and got first. I got 3rd in the sprint between me and the other girl. Once again – I started my sprint to late. I think I’m scared of sprinting – or at least starting too early – stuff to work on, I guess. So, 1 more upgrade point for me. $40 for 3rd place. Not too shabby.
Chris got 4th in his race – he did awesome and broke away from the field a couple times and finally broke away on the very last lap to get 4th.
Today was pain. OBRA TT Championships. I got all suited up at Peoria (stinky town USA). It was a perfect day. A little cool in the morning and not really any wind at all. This is a 40 k TT (25 miles) – usually takes people around an hour. So, I started out – of course I hit my “oh my gosh – why am i doing this?” point at around 8-10 minutes. Then I got in my mode. I almost got sucked in by a semi on the way out – it was pretty scary, and also was almost bucked off my saddle by a bump in the road. Other than that, it went fine. I probably could have pushed myself a little harder on the way out – but I’ve never done a 40 k before, and wasn’t sure how to budget my energy. There was a little headwind on the way out, so I knew I’d be able to make up some time on the way back. I got passed by my 30 second girl (Jill) nearing the turn around. I kept her close and used her as a rabbit. After the turn around we flew back. I passed Jill again, and spent the rest of the time going 25 mph+. I knew though, that Jill is strong, and even though she looked tired, I knew she’d probably be able to keep me close enough that she’d get first, and me second. Darn!
Anyway, I was nearing the finish, passed the 3 k sign (and about 6 other women), and the adrenaline started pumping. I had a little talk with my legs and told them they better work well for me – and amped it up. I was going about 27 mph and I felt really good. I saw the 1 k and just railed it. I had the finishing line in sight – and what do ya know – a car decided to back up into me. I saw the car flip a U-ee into a little driveway on the side of the street I was on – then I saw the reverse lights go on – and it seemed like they were going to wait, so I kept my line. All the sudden they gunned it and backed up right into the road. I swerved into the other lane and cussed quite a bit ( I feel bad for the people who were sitting there watching – haha) Anyway, I was angry because I had just gotten up to almost 28 mph and could have made up probably 10 seconds right there – but I had had to slam on my brakes for that stupid car. So, I didn’t even make it back up to 26 before I crossed the finish line. Stupid cars. Oh well. Here’s Jill and I getting our medals (which we really don’t have yet because they didn’t have enough for everyone…???)
Jill, Levi (the dog) , and I - Podium at OBRA TT Champs
So, overall it went well. I felt really good afterwards. I know I could have gone harder at some points – but for my first 40k tt, I felt pretty satisfied. I got second. Jill beat me by 21 seconds – not too shabby. Not to throw in excuses – but she also had a disc wheel and I didn’t – so that may have bought her some time. 
Anyway, a good weekend of racing – 2 podium spots and some Mula. Couldn’t ask for more! (Well, I could ask for first place – but that’ll come)
Well, last week was High Desert Omnium. Mike, Lisa, Chris and I stuffed the car full of our things and were on our way. The weekend started off with a crit on Saturday. The course was pretty technical with a about 6 turns and few curvy sections. There were also a couple rough corners, including a narrow downhill corner with a raised grate. The women’s turnout was phenomenal, probalby one of the largest turnouts I’ve seen so far this year. All categories raced together, which meant things got strung out pretty quickly. Right off the bat, when we started, I almost got taken out by a non-stable rider – and headed straight for the front. I wasn’t about to deal with that around all those corners. I endd up sitting behind Jill’s wheel for quite a bit of the first half of the race. The first half was hard – there were a couple times I didn’t know if I was going to be able to hold on. I just tried to stick on the wheel in front of me, and it worked. I eventually made my way up to the front 5. I stayed there for the rest of the race except for one lap that scared me pretty badly. We were coming around some lapped riders as we were approaching the most technical section of the course. There were a few sketchy riders in this lapped group who ended up in the middle of the pack. I got pushed to the back of our group because people were everywhere and slamming on their breaks to try to avoid the slower riders. Then it seemed like the front of the pack attacked. I just thought to my self – there’s no way that I’m not going to place well because this just happened. I saw that Jill had gotten pushed to the back too, so I got on her wheel and we made our way to the front again. I chased a few things down, but mostly just tried to conserve energy. I ended up getting top 10 overall in the sprint and placed 4th of the Cat 3 women. I need to work on my sprint….
The TT was nothing spectacular. It was painful and hilly and it sucked. i ended up getting 6th – and missed 5th place by 30 seconds – which I probably could have made up on the way up the hill – Up hill TT’s are not my thing – yet.
The Road race was hard. We started out and I was near the front. Veloforma was doing a lot of work as a group at the front, which was nice. Finally, the larger hill came. We started up at a pretty steady tempo ( which was set by Veloforma). I held on for quite a while, but it started slipping through my fingers. My little spinning legs could spin no longer and I dropped off the back. Looking back on it – this is where I should have stood up and just cranked it out. I just get to that point – and I loose it, and don’t think that I can stand up – but it actually would have helped me. So, we formed a groupetto behind the main group, and started chasing. Our entire group was cat 3 women – there were only 3 Cat 3’s up the road in the main group. So, we chased, and chased – up the hills down the hills. And the entire time we did a pace line, averaging probably about 25 mph. We kept the group in our sites the whole time – in fact, we got within about 100 yards from getting back into the group – I think this is when the lead group saw us and actually realized they were in trouble. We ended up losing sight of them on the last climb – and headed back to the finish. My legs were shot at the finish, and didn’t have it in me to sprint. I ended up finishing 11th in the Cat 3’s – not as good as I would have like – but I kept up with the strongest of them in the climbs, so that’s all Ic ould ask for at this point. I ended up finishing 6th in the omnium.
Tonight is the Sunset crit – which hopefully will go pretty well. Tomorrow is the OBRA TT Championships. I’m nervous – but excited. I’m not sure how my legs are going to treat me – cause they’ve been a litle tired lately, but we’ll see!
