My Tour of Walla Walla

My biking tour of Walla Walla did not involve any wine tasting, just some bike racing. 

After hearing many great things about the TOWW, I decided I really wanted to race this stage race, so I registered early.  A couple of other women on my team and myself rented a house for the weekend, along with Chris and one of the women's husband.  Friday afternoon I make the drive to Walla Walla with my teammate Sarah.  What great company for a long car ride!

My goal for this stage race was to #1 have fun and #2 do better than Cherry Blossom. 

Day 1, Stage 1: Time Trial (ew):

Thermal skinsuit = WARM.  Just getting started.

I had a pretty good start, look at my face I was smiling.  The time trial ventured off onto some roads, they seemed pretty flat and fast.  My goal was to not get passed and try to catch my 30 second carrot.  I pedaled my bike in my aero bars and felt like a rocket, I had a smashing good time (not time as in minutes or seconds) being all aerodynamic.  Then I hit a hill, caught a rider, heard Carly tell me it was all down  hill from there.  I got bummed...she was right, the rest of the course was literally all down hill.  Weighing approx 128lbs doesn't do you much good on the down hills so I knew I was going to lose a lot of time.  It was also a weird feeling, because it sort of felt...easy?  I was pushing myself, but yet I wasn't all at the same time.  It was weird.  I finished 8th overall though (it must have been Jess's thermal skin suit).

I'm sooooo fast in my aero bars

Day 1, Stage 2: Downtown Crit
 



That women is having more fun that I am



The promoters decided it was best to combine the W1/2/3's together for the Crit.  I disagreed with them, but that didn't really change their minds.  My feelings regarding this crit: it would have been different for the W3's had we had our own field.  I was bummed, but more importantly I was terrified, roughly 60 ppl in the combined fields.  SCARY.  I was more than just scared, I was very very very terrified.  I pre-rode the course 2x through, which in hines site....was not enough.  I probably could have pre-rode that course 100x and it still would not have been enough for me.  I don't even want to talk about how bad that crit was for me.  I was scared the entire time I was on my bike.  The race started pretty fast but I was able to keep up with the main group, but then every turn took me by surprise, I didn't know where I was going, there where people, cones, corners, tape, and wheels everywhere.  I couldn't get in a flow or a rythym, and all I wanted to do was quit.  I lost the main pack after the first half of race out of being timid and scared, and rode by myself for quite some time, then a group of a couple riders caught me, then out of no where there was a whole new 2nd group.  We finished 1 minute 24 seconds behind the other group, and I finished 9th in the 3's.





I like to ride by myself

Following the crit I was 11th in the GC

Day 2, Stage 3: Kellog Hollow Road Race

I was really looking forward to this road race because I lost so much time after the crit.  I wanted to make sure that if there was a break that went, that I would be in it, I needed to make up some lost time, so once the race started I tried to make my way to the front of the pack.  The course went something like this:

Flat section to get to the rolly circular section...ie we did 2 laps of a 20 something mile circle making our race roughly 65 miles with 3400 ft of climbing.  That doesn't sound too bad after the circuit race for Cherry Blossom (36 miles 4300 ft of climbing). 

Well I am not sure why I was worrying so much that a break would happen in this race, because NOTHING happened.  The first lap we were going so slow and it was only 40 degrees out so I was FREEZING.  I hated the race the first lap, I was bored out of my mind, no one would do anything, and no one wanted to push the pace in the front and no one wanted to be in the front.  I suppose I can't blame them because I didn't either, when we still had another lap to race.  I was seirously debating about quitting because I was so cold and bored.  Well...I didn't, my legs were feeling too good to quit...and I don't quit races unless something is seriously seriously wrong. 

At the start of the 2nd lap the pace sort of increased up the first hill, there was this women who was also at Cherry Blossom and she just had no problem pulling the entire pack up those hills (she did the same thing at Cherry Blossom, really likes to ride in the front).  After the raging down hill with a sharp left turn up into another hill I decided to push the pace up the hill.  I was bored and cold and the race was more than half way through, it was time to make something happen.  I knew that I couldn't climb the hill at 100% or else if someone decided to attack I wouldn't be able to keep up, so I kept it at a pace that I knew I would be able to sprint out of if need be.  I also was pretty sure that no one was going to move around me to the front so I continued to drill it up the hill.  Once at the top I heard someone say something on the lines of "wow that shattered the field".  We decended on the other half of the hill and at the bottom someone said "we got a group, want to rotate?"  I was all for a rotating paceline, and that's just what we did. 

The final 3k to 200m was the slowest strangest finish I have ever been in (did I mention the terrible head wind).  When we hit the 1k I could tell people were starting to organize their lead out trains, and I had no one, so I knew I wanted to get on someones wheel who could sprint.  So I did and sprinted my brain out to finish in 3rd place out of the 10 in our pack/break/what ever you want to call it.

I made up some time on some people after the road race and finished 7th in the GC.
Now the question remains on whether I will be back and race this event next year.  Lets review the races:
1) TT...I didn't like that the whole 2nd half was down hill, it doesn't put us little people in a good advantage to go fast
2) Crit....not fun
3) RR....nice country roads with some great hills, but a stupid flat finish (where's the hill finish)???
So next when the time comes to register for TOWW I will have to think hard about it, because right now I'm only 30% sure I might come back. 

All pictures in this post are courtesy of Kevin Tu, except for the first one (http://www.wheelsinfocus.com/)

I should also mention how much I adore my lady teammates.  Thanks for all the fun racing so far!!!!!

One more thing...Cucina Fresca pasta and sauces are DELICIOUS.  Now go buy some!!!!!!!!!

Beezley Burn...

I am trying to play catch up on my blog, and distract myself from working on my thesis all at the same time.  I think I am doing a pretty good job of that so far.

Two weekends ago I went and raced the Beezley Burn mountian bike race in Ephrata, WA.  I decided to race in the big girls field (also known as the Open field...aka as the "pro" field) which meant 4 laps on an 8 mile course (32 miles in case you suck at math).  I am no pro mountain biker but since you can self seed I wanted a challenge.  I have also decided that for the rest of the mountain biking season and as long as I can self seed I will be racing in this category.  I want to better my racing skills, and my fitness, and the only way to do this is by being challanged.  When I finish a race I want to know that I put my all into that race and when I cross the finish line I want my body to hurt from head to toe (is that weird)?  I experienced just that by the end of this race. 

There were only 3 women in my category and by the top of the small climb at the begining of the race I never saw those 2 women again.  I should also state that means I only saw their back side for a brief moment in time.  Was it some what humiliating?  Yes.  Was I working as hard as I could?  Yes.  Were my climbing skills pretty close to theirs?  Yes.  Could I twist, turn, and flow through the trails like those ladies?  NO.  So was I racing in the right category?  I had to ask myself at the start of every lap why was I racing 4 laps?  The mantra that got me to the end of that race was "if you want to be faster Courtenay, you MUST race against faster ladies, you MUST be challenged, and you MUST race in no-mans land". 

After the first lap I quickly realized I needed a full suspension mountain bike.  I was then questioning how my butt and hoo ha were going to survive racing on those rocks and bumps for 24 more miles.  By the final lap it hurt so bad to pedal hard I had to sit and spin in my little ring and try to stand where I could to avoid any bumps to the butt and hoo ha.  It hurt and I was lonely.  Since there were only 3 women doing 4 laps and the other two women were far ahead of me I was alone.  Oh and the pro men lapped me as I was finishing my 3rd lap/starting my 4th lap.  I was literally the only one in site.  As I was finishing up the lap and on the decent I started singing "She'll be coming 'round the mountain", then I started singing it louder and louder (I was lonely) then I screamed "YEW HAW" and looked up to see 2 men starring at me.  I was embarressed to say the least. 

When I came across the finish line my body hurt from head to toe, toe to head.  I know I finished last, I didn't even have any clue how far back I was from the other two ladies, but I had a good time.  The course was so much fun, so flowy, too bumpy.  When I finished I couldn't get off my bike, I had to pedal around the block a couple of times to cool down and find my center.  I was off in another world when I finished, but it felt so good, and I felt so accomplished to race my mountain bike for 32 miles.  Even though my legs, butt, hoo haa, arms, shoulders, hands, and back hurt I felt good.  It feels good to be challenged and it feels good to be in so much pain.  The way I finished that race is the way every race should be finished.  I can only think of 2 other times that I have been in that much physical pain after a race....
1) After collegiate road nats
2) After soloing the Bellingham Traverse
For the rest of my athletic career those two races will always stick out in my mind because they are feats I never thought imaginable. 

Every time I challenge myself to my limits I know I will become stronger and stronger.  Everytime my legs burn with lactic acid and want to give way from underneath me, I know it I will benefit in the future. 

I finished the 4 laps in 3 hours and 12 minutes (my goal was 3 hours and 30 minutes), which put me 17 minutes back from 2nd place, and 19 minutes back from first place.  Yes...my ass was handed to me.  It can only get better from here.

Cherry Blossom Cycling Classic

Sunshine and bike racing.  Enough said.

This last weekend a few tomatoes and myself drove south and raced in The Dalles, Or for some awesome bike racing.  It was the first stage race of the season and it felt SO good, it reminded me of collegiate racing. 

Race #1
Friday's race started with a 37 mile road race.  The weather was amazing it was nearly 70 degrees!!!  We did 2 laps of a course with only one major hill in it and a raging decent.  After the first lap things were pretty mellow for the first half of the 2nd lap.  Then we turned and hit the hill. I was getting really excited for the neutral feed that was at the top of the hill because I was thirtsty and out of water.  We climbed and climbed and then someone surged forward....and I did not.  I think at that point I could hardly open my mouth because it was so dry and the thought of pushing myself sounded terrible.  And not to mention my legs didn't work that well.  So I watched as a group of 12ish rode ahead of me and a group caught up to me.  We all climbed to the top of the hill together, decended together and then there was another short punchy type hill that I decided to just stand and crank up.  There were 3 of us at that point and 1 of the girls chose not to help because she had teammates up the road, and myself and a Group Health rider pushed ourselves to the end of the race and finished about 1 minue 20 seconds behind the pack.  This group health rider basically pulled my butt to the finish line downhill with a terrrible head wind, because I could barely push anymore and when I tried my right quad started to cramp.  I think I was seriously dehydrated and was in desparate need of some H2O.  I finished 14th that day...of 40ish starters (maybe)?

Race #2
I don't time trial, I hate it, I don't practice it, and I am terrible at them.  The course was an 11 mile out and back (out 5.5 and back 5.5 miles).  The out had a raging head wind and was up hill.  Coming back was awesome, raging tailwind mostly down hill.  I even ran out of gears!  I didn't realize that the finish of the time trial was after a right hand turn and then a little bit up the road aways, so I turned the corner, saw a lady who said my number and I stopped pedaling.  It wasn't until I saw riders ahead of me that I realized the finish was up the road.  So I stood up and cranked to the finish.  I did terrible, and finished around 24th?

Race #3

The downtown criterium.  I was warming up for the race and my legs didn't feel like they had much speed and power in them, so I was a little worried.  I started in the back of the pack and decided I would just do my best to avoid any sketchy rider who might want to take me out through one of the corners.  As the race began I realized that my legs didn't feel too terrible and I didn't want to be in the back of the pack, so I moved myself forward, close to the front where I could corner without people trying to hit me.  When racing collegiate my problem was always being in the front too much and working too hard pulling everyone around, and when the finished would come I would get out sprinted, and it would be frustrating.  So I just kept telling myself stay off the front, but do what I need to do to hold a position and chase what might try to go away.  My original goal was to try to sprint for any primes, until I realized I don't hear anything when I race, so I didn't hear off the primes, oh well.  When I looked up to see how long we had to go I saw the lap counter said 4 laps to go, wow that was fast.  Then 1 lap to go.  On that final lap I lost a couple of spots and fell back as people were getting anxious.  On the last corner I came through on the inside (like Jess told me to), and was behind a group of 7ish riders.  I realized they were really sprinting hard and I still had some juice in me, so I moved up the left side of the road where no one was and I stood up and sprinted my heart out until the finish line.  I thought, hey I think I placed 2nd or 3rd, not bad for thinking crits are scary.  When Tara caught up to me on the slow down lap after the race I turned to her and said "I think I got 2nd or 3rd"  she replied with a "no, you won".  My mouth dropped.  I won my first crit/ bike race on a road bike!  Sure I have won plenty of mountain and cyclocross races, but this was huge for me.  I won my first race on a road bike.  I was basically in shock for the rest of the night.  I didn't know I could sprint...I suppose cyclocross might have helped that?  Or maybe it was my trainer rides instead of being outside, because apparently I can't climb hills well these days!!



Photo Finish

Race #4
The final stage, a circuit race.  I love circuit races, they are so much fun.  I think I like them because they tend to be short laps and really difficult.  I love the mentality of them and the pack usually shatters.  This particular day was yet another beautiful morning.  Not a cloud in site.  Our group was doing one lap of a 6 miles course and then 2 laps of a 15 mile course, and this course was not for the weak!  The hills were long and steady and the decents were fast and curvy.  As soon as the good man told us go the race was on, and it started on a nice steady climb.  Within the first 4 miles ish there was a break in the pack and a group of 5? got away.  At one point I thought perhaps I could catch them attacked the group I was in, and realized it was hard by my self, then another girl caught up to me and we rode together until we got caught by the group on the following climb.  A little bit into the climb that same girl went for it up the hill and we didn't see her again!  Good for her.  From then on out it was a nice steady pedal with a group of 7 up the hill, down the hill, up the gravel climb (did I mention the gravel climb)? On the last lap I didn't know where the finish was and just happened to be in the front of the group leading the decent when the 1k sign appeared.  The finish started downhill then had you turn left and finish on a roughly 400m climb.  It was the longest 400m climb of my life, and I finished the race in 10th.  I had a great time and loved the course and the race.

Overall for the weekend I finished 13th for the weekend and had a wonderful time with some great people!