Pedal by Pedal

So, Eugene celebration ended with Wolf Creek stage.  Monster climb involved, and a lot of pain.  We started out and seeing as how we were only doing 1 lap of Wolf Creek (some of the other fields did 2), I knew that the climb would be essential to the win, and therefore it would mean pain for all of us.   The ride started out at a steady tempo, and it was actually quite enjoyable being able to talk to Jill and some of the other girls.  My nerves started acting up as we were headed down Siuislaw road and I saw Lisa and Rebecka move to the front.  They were in contention for second and third and both pretty good climbers.

We started up the first couple rollers – it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. I made sure to stay at the front and not to get behind anyone that would gap off.  Then the steep hill before the long climb began.  Rebecka smashed her way through it and we all followed in hot pursuit.  My adreneline was pumping fast and I knew that I could do it.  I stayed right on the girls wheel in front of me and before I knew it, we were over the hump and down the descent.  I looked behind and there was no one there.  9 of us had made it over.  We sped down the descent – except for the girl in front of me who seemed to enjoy hitting her breaks hard into the corner and then sprinting to catch up to the group.  I tried to get in front of her on one of the sharp turns and she just sprinted out of it and wouldn’t let me pass.  Ridiculous if you ask me.  But oh well, we stayed with the group.

Then the long climb began.  REbecka and another woman had gone up the road a ways so we were on the chase.  We held a pretty fast and steady tempo up the climb and I could feel my legs slowly filling up with lactic acid – then they decided they didn’t want to pedal as fast as I wanted them too.  I slowly slipped off the back little by little.  But!  We were almost to the top and only had about 2 turns left, so I didn’t fall very far behind.  I was on my own from then on.  I was scared that I wouldn’t have what it took to keep it strong through the rest of the course and not get caught by the ensuing chase group – but I felt amazing.  I bombed down the descent – so it was actually more fun than following a bunch of other people – and I time trialed the rest of the way.  I stayed within site of the lead group the entire time.  I even saw them turn up the finishing 1k climb.  I was amazed that I would actually be able to do this on my own – and wished that I had been in that group to help Lisa catch Rebecka – but oh well.  There I was.  The entire time I was out there I would say I averaged about 23-25 and sometimes even more – so it was a good ride. I started thinking I wished we would have had the TT that day instead of the day before. haha

Anyway, I finished on my own only 2 minutes back from the main group.  I finished 9th – the chase group finished about 3 minutes behind me.  I feel like it was a good race for me.  I made it a lot further on the hill than I thought I would and that was exciting.  I can’t wait for a good winter training base and a lot more work on climbing next year!  (I never thought I’d say that about climbing).

Anyway, Tuesday was the renegade crit and I went and watched.  Larry ended up taking 1st in the 4/5’s and David raced his first 1/2/3 crit.  Overall it was a good ending to the season.

As of now, I feel a little lost – and like I don’t know what to do.  We’re still planning on racing a couple races down in CA so I guess I still need to train a bit for that.  OH yeah!  I went on my first ever Mt Bike ride the other day with Dave and Chris.  IT WAS SCARYYY!!!!!  The actual climb wasn’t bad – it was the stupid switchbacks that got me – and then the way down was a little scary – but I made it out alive without crashing!  wahoo!