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!