I won myself a bike race.
Today. Spring Hill Road Race. Petaluma, California.
It was kind of a crazy morning, but with most of the team either in Tulsa and Montreal, it left ARo and I to take on the somewhat small peloton in Marin.
One thing racing in France taught me was that bike racing is supposed to be hard. I like hard races. The harder the better. ARo and I did not want to pedal in circles around the beautiful countryside of Petaluma for 70 miles. We would check out the course, and the we would start attacking. And if they caught us, we would attack again and again. I was going to make it a hard race. And if at the end, everyone was there, it would be a great opportunity to work on my sprint. I was ready to race. Hard. I also thought it would be a good day for a Team TIBCO win. Why not? Hard race, and a win.
Needless to say, the race started late and we were freezing. The race started on a 2k climb. What better way to warm up then drill it up the first climb. As Ali and I laughed as we got “warmed-up” on the climb, and the group was strung out.
I heard some complaints. “Girls, we have 67 more miles…do we need to go this hard?”
Well, this is a bike race. Welcome.
The course was mainly rolling with some power climbs. Very few flats. and 10mph winds. The main climbs were 4 minutes at max. Great course.
As we roll around, I hear…
“Can we have a nature break?”
No. ARo has a wedding to go to, ,and then a SnowFlake Shower. We have places to go, and we don’t have all day.
16 miles in, Wells Fargo attacks. I jump on. They counter. I jump. I figure the best option is to counter. I get caught. I counter my own catch. I get caught. I attack again.
Here is what I think:
- You have to attack like you mean it. You have to go for it. Really go for it. Believe it, and mean it.
- The next couple of minutes are all out very painful and very hard. Do not look back. If you look back, you didn’t mean it. Head down, put out power and go for it.
- Settle in. Find your rhythm and start going. No fear.
Well, I attacked. I meant it. I went pretty deep and put myself in a hole to further establish a gap. Drilled it up the feed zone hill and kept going. I went into full TT mode. It someone was going to bridge up to me, that’s perfect. But, I was going to make them work to try to catch me. My gap was at around 45 seconds. I kept pushing it. Why not? We are here race our bikes, I might as well race mine as well. I started counting down the miles to go at 33. 32 miles to go. 31 miles to go. 2 minute gap.
Suddenly, I felt pretty alone. It could have been the headwind and the crosswind. It could have been the rolling terrain of ranches and random furry cows… Or it really could be that I was all alone on a rolling terrain, and for some reason the follow car didn’t follow me, but stayed behind the chase group? I was in a deep time trial mode, staring at the SRM holding my watts in a particular window and just keep pedalling. Didn’t I do a practice TT yesterday? Was I really prepared to TT again today? Well, I was the one that attacked. I put my head down and went. I put myself in this position, so I might as well roll with it. Just roll with it at a very fast clip. I honestly don’t have much thoughts from that 50 miles. I was hurting and I was steady. Accelerate over the rollers, hold power on the descents. That’s all.
20 miles to go. 18. 16. 15. 13. 12. 10. 9… I think I can win? I hadn’t received any time splits. I had no idea where the peloton was. I just kept pedalling. Kept pedalling. The last hill. I went for it. Finished. I won! Where are the girls? Over 8 minutes back. They asked why I went to hard? I didn’t know I didn’t have to. Hard race. Good workout. Pro win number 2.
I felt good about the race. Bike races can be negative, but I will not be caught up in that. I will race and I will go for it. No, you will not win every time, you may even blow up. However, if you attack and you race your bike. You will not only get stronger, but you will have a good story to tell.
This one time, I attacked…and I had to ride 52 miles solo and I don’t remember much about it. But, I won. It was a good story. Maybe there will be more.
Pictures from the Memorial Day Crit!
Jason Mancebo was at the Memorial Day Crit, which was in Morgan Hill, and he took some GREAT shots…
Check these out!
Love these! Thanks Jace! Bike racing is fun right? Keeping it perspective and keeping smiling…Just try not to smile too much when you are in a break…they don’t like that…
And then there are those days…
Bike racing is fun, right? That’s why we do it.
With one TT under our belts, Kat, AFR, and Emily Zell (Value Act) headed down to San Jose for our second race of the weekend. K, AFR, and I were meeting Brooke and Ali for a little action packed race known as the Mt. Hamilton Classic. Oh yeah. Start in San Jose, climb Mt. Hamilton, and then end 66 miles later in Livermore. 20 mile climb, then some shorter climbs and rollers leading into a fast descent into Livermore.
With a few pit stops and flawless trip planning extraordinaire by Kat, we made it to the race site. With 30 minutes to spare.
Remember my ingenious idea to time trial with my SRM from my road bike? Yeah, that one. I switched cranks to put the SRM back on the road bike for the race. I was very proud of my mechanic capabilities and even announced my technical savy. Race was lining up. I hop on my bike. Chatting, laughing…and the pedals won’t move. I scream for Tim from Paradigm Cycles to come help!
“Ahh!” “Someone get me an 8mm” “Quick” It was like an ER episode. The women are staged to start the race, and Tim is doing a quick surgery on the Look.
“Alison, what’s your heart rate”
“I’m in Zone 3 and getting warmed up! AHHH”
Quickly, I mount the bike and roll to the start just in time to catch the tail end of the Women’s 1/2/3 field. Phew. A close call, but the Look 585 was repaired quick enough to join the bike race.
Lesson Learned: When performing mechanical surgery on your bike the night prior to a race. Pre-ride the bike before actually starting the race.
The race starts, and we were mainly looking for AFR or myself to jump on any moves from the “climbers” of the group. Jazz Apple was out there in full force. We climb and climb and climb…descend…and then start the 2nd climb. Bam. Attack attack attack. Kat jumps on. AFR and I jump on the chase. We are golden. A break of 4 with Kat in it. The break dissolves and two riders move on. We are 20 miles into the race…one narly descent and roller to go…. and 46 more miles to chase the break down.
Narly descent. AFR and Kat take off. I struggle to stay connected. Have to chase to get back with them. The break is up the road, and we are doing the work to get it back. Lots of hills in between Mt. Hamilton and Livermore. By the Way. Lots of hills. I like to think of them as mini-mountains.
The break is established and we are going for 3rd. It was a hard course to reel them back in with such a technical descent. AFR flats, Kat gives her her wheel. We are 5k from the finish. AFR is chasing to get back on, and suddenly I realize I am in the break of 6 going for 3rd with no other teammates. What do I do? What would they tell me to do? With 1k to go I attack. Oops. AFR saw it and said, “Oh, wrong move…next time do that with 250m to go”. Oops. I got 6th. Team TIBCO had a little tough luck, but AFR got 9th, even after flatting. The pay out was 10 deep and they had licorice and chips at the finish line. We love them.
Lesson Learned: If you haven’t climbed Mt. Hamilton before, do it. It is beautiful, from what I remember… and then single lane road into Livermore is truly epic. It is what a bike race, or ride, should really look like. The foothills of Northern California are epic and gorgeous.
Lesson Learned: Do not jump with 1k to go on a downhill finish. Wait until 250m and then do you jump. I can sprint. Maybe.
Lesson Learned: Climbing road races are awesome. I will do that race again. I love my team too. Those are some strong girls.
The next day of racing…we headed to do the Memorial Day Criterium. Z and I headed down to San Jose. I pull out the BlackBerry to update my ever-important Twitter status and notice Kat’s Twitter status that she is in Morgan Hill. Hmm…20 miles south of SJ. I guess the crit is in Morgan Hill. Shoot. Arrived to the race 30 minutes before start. Quick pre-race meeting. And we were off, and by off, I mean it. That was a fast crit. Strong field, and no sitting up. We were attacking and covering and attacking and covering. Breaks weren’t sticking, but we were getting in plenty of them. Ouch. Attack again. Ouch. Chase. Ouch. Brought Brooke to the front with 2 to go. Get in good position. Chase down a lone rider. Lead out goes. I blow. Completely. Pretty sure I was DL. Still a hard race. Brooke gets 4th. Our legs were a little fried.
What do you do when you blow up before the lead out and your legs are torched after 50 mere minutes of racing? Join the Pro Men’s race of course! Brooke and I jump into the men’s race and hang on. Geez. Those guys are fast, but I just sit in and enjoy the ride. I got a couple of double takes for the blonde braid and pink Rudy sunglasses, but enjoyed the 30mph crit and the sweet draft. I dropped out with about 5 to go, and enjoyed the motorpacing session with the fast guys. Good leg speed.
I was torched. Today was an easy day.
Lesson Learned: Bike races are much easier when you can sit in and not race them. But they are much more fun when you race them and don’t sit in.
Lesson Learned: Get direction to the bike race before leaving the house. Even if you don’t do that, at least know which city the bike race is in.
Press from Look Cycle
Check out Look Cycle’s website, and look at “latest news”…good press for Team TIBCO and our recent racing! You may even see a name you recognize…
Thanks!
The Adventure of Sunol, California
The adventure began very early this morning. Much earlier then anticipated due to the cat determining that a 5am wake up was pivotal for my time trial successes. An argument with a cat at 5am is most likely not going to end in your favor. Oh well, I had plenty of time to get the coffee going and the water boiling for my favorite pre-TT breakfast—oatmeal, honey, yogurt, and a dash of peanut butter. Yum.
Loaded up the car for a 7:30am departure to Sunol, California. Approximate distance: 52 miles. After a few wrong turns and a misguided detour to San Jose on the 880, 75 miles later, I arrived in Sunol. Sunol is a cute little town, with a fabulous smelling breakfast buffet in the making in the Town Center. The air was a little crisp for Summer Solstice, but something about seasoned potatoes, bacon, scones, and omelettes makes you ready to sit down and forget about everything else…except the fact that instead of joining in the local festivities, I was about to partake in another tradition…a 10 mile time trial. The Calavares Road 10 mile ITT to be exact. Nothing peaceful and summery about that. Just raw pain, red hazy vision and hopefully a really fast time assisted by the Look 496 and the sweet Team TIBCO skinsuit.
The warmup went well, and I listened to some of my music that I became slightly connected to in France. Nothing like a little “Explosion Kiss” or “Poker Face” to get you going into serious focus mode. Right.
It was great to see some teammates out there. Kat and Amber were out in full force. A little chatting at the start, a couple of openers on the way over, and I was in line for the TT. Where was that focus I was searching for? Not really present. No one was holding the riders at the start. This was only slightly comical to me considering they gave you your countdown and then you clipped in and went. It resembled my failed TT on Tuesday. My own countdown and then I would be off. Hopefully I would be able to last longer then 7 minutes this time. As I tried to start I could only laugh on my sloooow acceleration… Note to self: work on TT start.
The time trial had started, but where was I? Not really present. The TT went up and it went down…it went up and it went down. It was like a roller coaster. No rhythmn whatsoever. Tons of shifting and it hurt. This is supposed to hurt, but this much? I went mental once again. A one mile climb was the only place I could find my rhythm. Then it was down and twisty. Up and Down and 1 mile to the finish. Back to that final stretch and there was my rhythm once again. Frustrated again by my focus, but I will need to practice that. It is a funny feeling when the entire TT you what the race to be over because of the flooding of you legs, and then as soon as you cross the line, the burning sensation subsides and you know you could have given it a little more. Next time, everything will be given. I am still learning.
End of the day, it was a 2nd place finish for me to Emily Zell of Value Acct and I am going to take some positives out of it:
1) I got to wear my skinsuit.
2) I got to ride my TT bike pretty fast.
3) I get to race Mt. Hamilton tomorrow with some teammates.
4) After the TT I went and ate at the brunch buffet in Sunol. Nothing like a recovery omelette and potatoes. Delicious.
5) Team Integrate/FFBC p/b Chipotle put on a GREAT event. Thanks!
