Tough Going in Tulsa

The Arkansas River!

At least this trip did not start off like Speedweek with an 8 hour flight. And, our bikes made it as well. We are staying with Brent again this year in his amazing house and living in the lap of luxury. It is also really cool because the entire team can stay in one house. Thursday night Brent treated us to the most amazing diner at “The Local Table” where of course I had a steak, very rare. Would have loved to have had a bourbon with it but no way with 3 days of racing ahead.

Liz always looking for the "cross" experience.

X explaining how to move my seat, funny!

Friday we all slept in a little, built our bikes and then Brent took us on a great ride on the Riverwalk Trail to Turkey Mt. and back home. The weather was beautiful in Tulsa warm but not too hot with a slight breeze. It was great to be back with all of my “teamies” and hang out. Back home to shower up and head to Whole Foods for another round of shopping. Racing is all about riding, eating and sleeping, nothing else. Thank goodness though for Whole Paycheck as I like to all it so I could get my goat yogurt.

The brawn of VK!

Love this photo, Liz on the crackberry while Mel and Brent fix her flat. LOL!

At 5:30pm we headed downtown for the first race. It is a figure 8 course with nice wide streets. Downtown Tulsa is coming along as they are renovating it and the pavement was so much nicer than last year. VK was riding a good race and being very attentive to attacks. I was feeling good (finally!) and did my rotation on the front making sure nothing got away that we were not in. During the race there were several crashes which I could not understand with such wide roads. Teammates were going down right and left but luckily were getting back in the race. Awful to see. With 12 laps to go there was a big crash on the last turn and the next time around I noticed there was a VK rider on the ground and not moving. Ugh! She was there several laps and I kept trying to figure out who it was. It is the hardest thing to keep racing when you see one of your own on the ground and not getting up. It turns out Melissa went down and the rider on the ground was Virginia. We tried to make something of the end but I have to admit my nerves of steel had softened to liquid form. The girls in the race were all over the place and it was one of the sketchiest races I have done. Out of our team of 7 only 3 of us stayed up. Not a good ratio. It turns out Melissa will need stitches and it looks like Virginia has a broken collarbone though we are unsure as the hospital is busy tonight (go figure) and the girls are not home yet and as I write this it is 11:14pm Tulsa time. Leigh and Melodie are banged up and have road rash but doing okay.

Liz sporting her Sammy Hagar hair - just awesome!

Thank goodness for X’s cooking earlier in the day as we came home to warm pasta and a salad. We sent Dave off to the hospital with clothes for the girls and food.

Tomorrow is another day and I am hoping a much safer race. I am bummed at my lack of mental fortitude as I finally feel like my old self on the bike. When will my head and body meet up this year? I am off to bed hoping that we will hear good news about Virginia. This definitely deserves a big “Cheese and Rice!” And yes Robin, we did get fisted this evening!

Ventura County Stage Race and Barry Wolfe Crit

The standard!

Boy how time flies. Last weekend I did the inaugural Ventura County Stage race which was a 3 stage 2 day race. Since my season has been a little up and down my coach wanted me to do it to continue to work on my race legs.

Saturday the 16th started off early with a drive to downtown Ventura for a time trial start time of 10:13am. I brought Murphy my time trial bike and my disc wheels. The course was a 1.7 mile out and back with a steep little power climb in the beginning. I debated using Murphy but opted for him in the end. I went gang busters off the start and felt like I was going great and felt powerful. I started my watch when my 30 second girl went and finished with a time of 3:16. I did however accidentally cut the course short on the turn around as it was not clearly marked and therefore ended dead last on the GC. Bummer as I felt I would have had an excellent time.

I then spent my day resting in my car and found a great little bakery that made sandwiches to eat at. Thank god for my iPhone and a good book which helped the time pass until the 5:30pm criterium in the evening.

Before the race I went and got a Starbucks coffee and ran into Neil Brown from Road Magazine and Phillip Chang who I used to dance with back in the La Danserie days. Crazy how small the world is. I did a great warm up for the crit and off we went. The course was a 4 corner with a climb after turn 1 and a screaming downhill after turn 3. As usual La Grange with there 8 squad (or which seems like 8 riders) team kept launching attacks. I tried to be smart about what I went after hoping that some of the other teams would chase if they were not in it. This was not the case and a La Grange and a NOW rider went up the road. I waited and finally decided to launch an attack to bridge. Since the GC was out of reach for me a stage win would be fantastic. The NOW rider fell off the pace and I nearly caught the La Grange rider who was 8 seconds off of me but for some reason I could not quite close the gap. I found out later that La Grange after a bit went on the front of the pack to reel me in. Crazy to be so marked. Near the end of the race the attacks were furious and just being one rider it was really hard to mark everything. The field came down to a sprint for 5th place and Beatriz nicely rested came around me to take it and I got 6th. More importantly though I felt like I was finally coming out of this crazy start to the season I was going through and my legs were feeling like the old me. Good news!

The next day was a 40 mile road race in Ojai with an afternoon start time. It was hot in Ojai and my frozen bottles were melting even in the cooler before the race. Scott Searway and his daughter Emily surprisingly showed up to watch which was great. We had to do the circuit 7 times which meant climbing the 1 mile climb 7 times. I felt good during the race which was the typical slow pace until the climb and then slow pace again, until lap 5 when my body just over heated and said stop. My water was warm and neutral feed was few and far between as well as having warm water. Cheryl Roth from Helen’s and Alexis Ryan from Major Motion and myself rode the last two laps together. Mostly Cheryl and I wanted to do the descent again which was totally fun. I even survived a bad feed from the neutral feeder who held the bottle incorrectly and I almost went down. I was really happy when the race was over. I finished 16th overall starting from dead last after my wrong turn so not too bad but not great. It is very hard to do road races in the heat without the help of a feeder with cold fluids. On the way home I stopped off for the traditional In n Out Burger. Yum! Didn’t really deserve it with the way I rode but it still tasted delicious.

Memorial Day Weekend – Barry Wolfe Criterium

Another weekend, another race. Luckily for a very intuitive wise friend and the brilliant knowledge of Ashton at Sundance Cycles my bike is finally feeling correct after a long hard time of getting it to fit. Jenn X and myself rode from our homes and met in Warner Center for the race. X brought me a 100mm stem to switch out on my bike (I love my friends!) which I did before the race but ended up having headset issues right before we started. I couldn’t seem to get it to lock down but the stem was on tight. I had a slight jiggle in my headset but decided to try and race anyway and if it was too bad to pull out.

The race started and I took the first turn hesitantly and then from there on out figured all was good and I was back to whipping it through the turns. X of course thinks I am crazy! I think I was super frustrated from the headset ordeal and rode the beginning of the race like a maniac going after all the attacks and being super aggressive. My bike was feeling good and I was feeling like my old self so why not ride super hard, right?

I then heard the magic word of a free haircut prime to the winner of the next lap and I was motivated knowing this was coming from my hair stylist, David Alva – the best in the business. I had to sprint for the prime and got it. I continued to ride hard and X was being very aggressive as well. Not bad for being only 2 girls against the many numbered local teams. X finally got in a break of 5 girls with all the teams represented. It was weird though because they never got more than a 35 second lead on the main field. Girls from the main field kept trying to jump to the break and I was covering the moves. A group of 3 or 4 got off the front of our group a little and I pulled them back to only get attacked again. Eventually though there was a melt down in the break and with just over 5 laps to go we were back together. Cheryl Roth from Helen’s attacked once the break was caught and X did a great job of reeling her in. Funny how the teams with more riders were not so concerned but X and I wanted to practice everything we could for our upcoming weekend in Tulsa so riding hard was on our agenda. With a couple of laps to go X was back on the front doing a great lead out and keeping me out of the bubble. Between turn 3 and 4 Pam Schuster (Helen’s) jumped and I was on her. We went into turn 4 hard and I immediately jumped off her wheel and went for the sprint and won! Excellent! X finished 9th which was awesome after all the work she did for me. In addition, while she was in the break she won a haircut pime as well. We could not be happier! My headset held up (fixed it correctly when I got home) and finally my bike is like home again. I can’t wait for Tulsa. Stay tuned.

VK in the house!

Southeast Crit Series Thursday April 30th - Monday May 4th

A park in Spartanburg

Thursday April 30^th

We made it to the Hawley Company in Lexington, SC. Their place is great and it is like a candy shop for cyclist. The company is expanding which is always great to see. We got to meet the entire crew. It was wonderful to actually meet in person the people who are supporting and believing in us and it is fantastic to be associated with such great people and such a wonderful company. Andy, our main man for our bike support wanted me to challenge Colin to an arm wrestle which if anyone knows me I am always up for. I guess Andy and Colin have a little banter going on and I was more than happy to help Andy out. I have to admit Colin got a little red when I met him and immediately mentioned that I heard he was quite the arm wrestler. Colin did not want to arm wrestle at first but Andy was insistent and so the table was set up. I gave Colin a run for his money but he eventually won. I think my arm could have been raised higher as he is bigger than me but it was all in good fun. To check out how it went down you can go to the Hawley blog link and see a play by play.

Steve Hawley took us to lunch at this great bistro with Derrick and we got to chit chat and get to know each other a little better. Steve and Derrick are awesome and we had a great time at lunch. We went back to Hawley and hung out with everyone a little more and then hit the road for Spartanburg.

On our morning ride in Spartanburg

Jenn X, Melissa and myself stayed with Angela again in Spartanburg which was great. She is so nice and I love her house. The other girls stayed up the street from us and we all went out to dinner where we officially determined that I have T-Rex arms and Jenn X has an extreme wingspan and obviously has some of my arm length, lol. Friday AM we got up and did a little ride on the hunt for coffee. Angela had mentioned that all of the coffee shops downtown had closed and so we ended up going to the Little River Coffee Company. We took a nice little ride through a park and then it was back home to rest. It seems like the trip is just filled with riding, resting and eating. We went back out again for coffee before the race at 6:30pm.

Spartanburg’s course is a 4 corner fast circuit with turn 4 really narrowing and the start/finish straight being tight. VK rode a good race with Jenn X, Virginia, Haley and myself covering the moves in the first 20+ laps. The other teams were super aggressive and we had to be very attentive. Jenn X got a prime by rolling off the front on the first lap. Near the middle of the race the pace stayed high and the other VKs Leigh, Liz and Laura kicked into gear. The race heated up with 5 laps to go and with 3 laps to go there was a small group off the front. I knew we had to get Melissa up there so Laura and I hustled to pull them back. After that I was toast, job done and Mel sprinted to 6^th place. Still not feeling quite like my normal self on the bike which is very frustrating but glad that I could help out the team in anyway.

It was back to Mellow Mushroom for dinner and a drink together as on Saturday our team would be splitting up to cover both the NRC race in Alabama and the other race in Dillworth where are sponsors would be.

Virginia and Andy

Jeff at Mellow Mushroom

Saturday May 2^nd

In the AM we were packed and hit the rode by 9am. Luckily for us Dillworth was only 1 ½ hours away from Spartanburg, SC in North Carolina. The course was a fast loop around a park with a tight turn in to the uphill start/finish. Our goal was to get Liz in a break with Rebecca Larson who was riding for Jittery Joes knowing that she was a strong rider. Virginia, Haley and myself worked hard in the beginning to make this happen and it did. The girls stayed away for most of the race holding an 8 to 12 second gap. I radioed to Liz to keep the gas on as the chase and attacks from the pack were aggressive. Things were looking good when all of a sudden I saw Liz coming back to the pack and I knew something must be wrong with her as she is such a fighter. VK then tried to bridge up to Rebecca but could not get successfully away so then we tried to pull her back by working together. With 5 laps to go we knew Rebecca was gone and it would be a field sprint for 2^nd. Virginia and Haley did a great job of keeping me at the front and then the pack started to come around on the long haul to the finish. I got a little jumbled in the mix and think I was in too big of a gear and got 3^rd in the field sprint for 4^th overall. I was very frustrated not feeling quite like my normal self in the sprint. My legs were also super tired from the weeks racing that we had been doing so far. It was great though to have Steve Hawley and his wife Jan at the race and hang out with them a little more. Also Steve’s son came by from college to check out the racing and cheer us on. We are very appreciated of their support.

Liz was okay but suffered a severe asthma attack and had to go to the medic. Having asthma myself I totally felt for her and understood the fact that she could not get any air. There must be something with North Carolina (no offense) as last time I raced there I got heat exhaustion or perhaps it has to do with the barometric pressure. As we were driving the 4 hours back to Georgia this crazy intense storm hit us and I could barely see the road in front of me. Cars were even pulling over under the over passes just to seek shelter because the rain/hail was so intense. All I can say is that I have never experienced rain like that back in So Cal.

Four plus hours later we made it back to Georgia and finally got showered and got some more food. We went to the Grange where Jeff knows the owner Steve (an Irishman!) where I had a great meat pie. The Alabama girls got in around 11:30pm having a pretty successful day with some primes and Melissa got 8^th place.

We were back together again and ready to hit the last day of racing in Sandy Springs, GA on Sunday!

Sunday May 3^rd

Melissa and I stayed and Jeff and Leigh’s place and we were treated to an awesome breakfast made by Jeff, an omelet with fresh veggies and amazing pancakes. I needed the big breakfast as the weeks worth of racing was catching up to me and I think my food intake had been down during the week due to the stress that racing puts on your body. Fueled up, we hit the road for the ½ hour drive to Sandy Springs. This course is a tight circuit with a downhill chicane and a tight downhill turn into the up hill finishing straight. Knowing it would be hard X and I did a longer warm up than usual through these great neighborhoods. Both of us forgot to bring our camera so we don’t have any photos L. Positioning was everything and we were all at the line early. My rear brake was attacking up and Jeff was able to fix it for me right before we started. I tried to do all I could in the beginning to keep the race under control unsure how I would feel near the end. Every time up the hill we were flying out of the saddle averaging 26 – 27 mph. There were some breaks up the road but the usually only contained one rider so we were able to spread the load of bringing them back with other teams. With 10 laps to go X and I went to the front to set tempo for a couple of laps and then it was gas on. Leigh helped Mel as much as she could to drop her off near the front and she got 9^th. We were done. Also, this is the course last year that I crashed really bad on and had that horrible concussion. I was happy to see the countdown under 7 laps to go as that is the lap I crashed on last year.

Sad :( no more beer.

After the race we collected are winnings as we actually had riders in the overall for the week as well as the individual races and headed to Meehan’s the Irish pub on course to watch the men’s race and get a well deserved drink.

What I love about this photo is the Motor Tabs bottle behind my drink -- hydration and a crown and coke, lol!

It was home to shower and then back out to the Grange for a post race party. The Colavita girls hung out with us as well as some of the guys and our ever handy support team of Andy and Brittany from Storck. Dave from Storck also joined us which was great. I have to admit we all got pretty toasted but had a great time. Luckily Leigh and Jeff just live down the street so we got a nice walk in afterwards.

So now I am on the plane home and have just over 2 more hours left (it is 10:29am Cali time).

Thanks for staying tuned and I hope you enjoyed the journey. Back home to tune the body up a little more and meet with my coach, continue to work on my house and back to work. I race again in Tulsa at the end of the month.

At the Grange Sunday evening, we made it!

To some up the weeks worth of racing I will quote the ever hilarious Laura, “cheese and rice”.