Tales from the Wheels (and other hallucinations): San Dimas Stage Race 2008 - Stage 1

Spring is here and that means it is stage racing time. Even though San Dimas is a local race and not on the pro circuit a lot of pros participate in it because it is right before Redlands which is next week. The women went off later in the afternoon which was fantastic as I got to sleep in a little bit. What is also great is that we have more SBW riders now that track season is over and it was great to have Christen K. join us today so now we are a squad of 4.

It was a typical TT day. Get there, get your registration packet with your number, synchronize you watch with the official race clock, pin your number and get on the bike to get warm. Even though the effort today will be under 20 minutes a full hour warm up is necessary as it is full throttle once the countdown goes for you. Instead of being first off today like I was at Visalia I was close to the end of the women with a 2:12:30 start time and last of my team to go. Jenn X who I drove with started 4 minutes ahead of me so we were able to do most of our warm up together which is always nice.

Bad picture of our view while warming up.

Off to the start line I went to line up behind the best climber signed up for the race, Mara Abbot (Team Highroad). I knew she would be a good carrot if I could just keep her in my sites. Off she went and I was next 30 seconds later. 5, 4 3, 2, 1 and off I went. The first part of the TT is a false flat for about 500meters and I went as hard as I could knowing that it would help my overall time. I could see Mara up the road however once she turned to start the climb off she went. I still pushed on hard attacking the climb every chance I could get. My heart rate started to go up and after 1 mile I was in the 200 bpm area and over. I was in and out of the saddle trying to maximize every ounce of power I could get. The wind started to pick up which is always bad and I tried to get smaller on the bike and use the hillside to try and block it by hugging the side of the road. Luckily living in the valley I am no stranger to wind. I kept pushing on and all of a sudden I was at mile 2 and everything was pounding, heart, legs, etc. I think mile 2 to mile 3 hurt the most and seemed to take forever. I kept trying to get my legs to turn the pedals over faster and faster and if the gradient let up a little to shift and push a bigger gear. The total climb is 3.8 miles and with .8 of a mile to go I thought my lungs were going to pop out of my chest. With about 500 meters to go an old teammate of mine, Sandra Kolb was on the side of the road and she was very encouraging letting me know there were a couple more turns and then the finish. I pushed the pedals as fast as I could go and when I saw the blue tent of the finish line I stood up to sprint as fast as I could to the line. My legs had nothing left in them and it was all I had to stay on the bike. I finished in an 18:20:00 almost a complete minute faster than last year. Yeah! My teammates rode awesome times and here are our placings after day 1: