Category: W1/2
Field Size: 5
Length: 67 miles
Place: 4th
This course was torturous, really, especially with our microscopic field. We started out an easy enough pace, knowing that it was a long road ahead and it would be easier if we stuck together for a while. We bumped into the W3 field for a bit (all 4 of them), but we sped up a bit to stay ahead of them. Once the climbing started, Jane Despas took off, and although for a while we could see her way up the road, we never got close to catching her again. The other four of us stuck together and worked together for a long time, especially on the five mile crosswind stretch (and again on the way back for another 5 miles). We did an approximation of an echelon, and it worked fairly well, but we still couldn't really gain any ground on Jane up the road. I worked pretty hard, possibly more than my share, trying to catch Jane, but it wasn't meant to be. When the climbing began again to get back, I got dropped, and I realized that I hadn't been eating or drinking enough - whoops! I ate a gel and felt a bit better, but by that time it was too late for me to catch to two ahead of me. I went hard for a bit hoping to catch back up to them after it leveled off, but to no avail. I let up and eventually Beverly caught me and we rode in together, which was nice because not only was a lot of the way back uphill, there was also a wicked headwind.
It was the longest road race I'd ever finished and I'd worked pretty hard most of the way. Unfortunately, I paid for it afterwords. My back had been hurting from all of the climbing, the way it tends to when I got hard for a long time and do some climbing too. When I finally got off my bike at the car, I realized just how bad it was, since I'd been kind of blocking it out for a while. It felt fine when I stood straight up (in fact, it felt kind of good to stretch it out), but when I went to take off my shoes or bend forward for any reason, it just locked up and kind of spasm-ed and was extremely painful. Ouch! My back muscles were so tight, I'd never felt it nearly so bad before. Luckily it did ease up relatively quickly, after I'd stood for a bit then laid down and rested for a while. By the time we were driving home it wasn't spasmodic anymore, just achy. I definitely wasn't used to the longer distance road races like that, especially with so little shelter from the wind in our little pack, so I'll just have to do some more and build up my stamina.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Calaveras Time Trial 5/22/2010
Category: Open Women
Field Size: 7
Length: 10 miles
Place: 5th
This was a nice course, fairly flat for the first five miles, then a bit of a climb up to the turnaround, then back again. It wasn't very windy, so that was nice. I got a bit of a warmup in, then headed out to meet Jose as he got back from his TT so that we could swap equipment - I needed his aero helmet and disc wheel. The swap was completed with a couple of minutes to spare, then I was off. It was a fun race, and I pushed myself pretty hard, though I wasn't feeling great. I did ok, but it seemed that in our small field we had a lot of fast women! Of the four women I got beat by, I'd previously been beat by two of them (Tyler Stewart - a pro triathlete - and Molly Van Houweling), and the other two were both pro riders and good time trialists (Alison Starnes and Olivia Dillon). Hopefully it was good practice for nationals, though a bit shorter than nationals will be.
Field Size: 7
Length: 10 miles
Place: 5th
This was a nice course, fairly flat for the first five miles, then a bit of a climb up to the turnaround, then back again. It wasn't very windy, so that was nice. I got a bit of a warmup in, then headed out to meet Jose as he got back from his TT so that we could swap equipment - I needed his aero helmet and disc wheel. The swap was completed with a couple of minutes to spare, then I was off. It was a fun race, and I pushed myself pretty hard, though I wasn't feeling great. I did ok, but it seemed that in our small field we had a lot of fast women! Of the four women I got beat by, I'd previously been beat by two of them (Tyler Stewart - a pro triathlete - and Molly Van Houweling), and the other two were both pro riders and good time trialists (Alison Starnes and Olivia Dillon). Hopefully it was good practice for nationals, though a bit shorter than nationals will be.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Get Ready for Summer #3 5/15/2010
Category: C
Field Size: 6
Events: Keirin, Scratch, Miss and Out, Points
Places: 1st, 2nd, 1st, 1st, 1st (Omnium)
I decided that it was time to get out to the track again for the last Get Ready for Summer race. I got a ride down to the track from Josh Schwartz, since Jose had to take his mother to the airport for her return to NYC. This week the C category was very small, but it felt much safer than the first GRFS race with that awful crash in the Miss and Out. There weren't enough of us for a tournament Keirin, so we did a round robin instead (all 6 of us raced twice and our points were based on both races). That was a lot of fun, and I got 2nd and 1st in the two rounds.
The scratch race was very short, I think only 15 laps, so I decided early on to just attack. For some reason I really felt like time trialing, so I went and just kept going. There was one guy on my wheel, but I just kept going and kind of hoped I could lose him by keeping the pace pretty high. He stuck with me as we lapped the "field" (the remaining 4 weren't together anymore, so it was kind of sparse), then he edged me out in the sprint. I didn't really mind though because I was having so much fun anyway.
The Miss and Out was very short because there were so few of us, and I was actually unsure of when the race finished, because I went off the front again with the same guy on my wheel and I think another one and I couldn't keep track of when the people behind us got pulled. I think they did ring the bell for us, and I won the sprint that time.
The points race was fun, though it was similar to the other races because the field size was so small and there was a disparity in strengths. I think I won the first 2 out of 3 sprints, and I think I let the other guy take the last one because by then I'd won anyway.
It was a really fun day at the track, and even though my field was really small it was kind of nice to get out there and try some different things. I also applied for my Fast Track upgrade, since as a Cat 2 on the road I'm allowed to upgrade to 3 on the track as long as I pass a written quiz and demonstrate a safe riding style at a race, which I did. So the next time I race on the track, I'll likely be a Cat 3 and race with the B's instead of the C's.
Field Size: 6
Events: Keirin, Scratch, Miss and Out, Points
Places: 1st, 2nd, 1st, 1st, 1st (Omnium)
I decided that it was time to get out to the track again for the last Get Ready for Summer race. I got a ride down to the track from Josh Schwartz, since Jose had to take his mother to the airport for her return to NYC. This week the C category was very small, but it felt much safer than the first GRFS race with that awful crash in the Miss and Out. There weren't enough of us for a tournament Keirin, so we did a round robin instead (all 6 of us raced twice and our points were based on both races). That was a lot of fun, and I got 2nd and 1st in the two rounds.
The scratch race was very short, I think only 15 laps, so I decided early on to just attack. For some reason I really felt like time trialing, so I went and just kept going. There was one guy on my wheel, but I just kept going and kind of hoped I could lose him by keeping the pace pretty high. He stuck with me as we lapped the "field" (the remaining 4 weren't together anymore, so it was kind of sparse), then he edged me out in the sprint. I didn't really mind though because I was having so much fun anyway.
The Miss and Out was very short because there were so few of us, and I was actually unsure of when the race finished, because I went off the front again with the same guy on my wheel and I think another one and I couldn't keep track of when the people behind us got pulled. I think they did ring the bell for us, and I won the sprint that time.
The points race was fun, though it was similar to the other races because the field size was so small and there was a disparity in strengths. I think I won the first 2 out of 3 sprints, and I think I let the other guy take the last one because by then I'd won anyway.
It was a really fun day at the track, and even though my field was really small it was kind of nice to get out there and try some different things. I also applied for my Fast Track upgrade, since as a Cat 2 on the road I'm allowed to upgrade to 3 on the track as long as I pass a written quiz and demonstrate a safe riding style at a race, which I did. So the next time I race on the track, I'll likely be a Cat 3 and race with the B's instead of the C's.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Berkeley Hills Road Race 5/9/2010
Category: W1/2
Field Size: 27
Length: 71 miles
Teammates: Kim and Sam
Place: DNF
I came out to the Berkeley Hills Road Race with Nancy (who did the Cat 4 race and got 5th) hoping to test my strength and see if I could stay with the pack until the finish. Unfortunately, I was out of luck. About 7 miles in, I got a flat going through town. I later found out that it was a rather large sliver of glass that caused a fairly fast flat. Unfortunately, even though the follow car had wheels in it, the car was not with the pack because someone else had flatted shortly before I did. This meant that it took at least a minute for the follow car to reach me, plus another 30 seconds or so to swap the wheel out. Since it was my rear wheel with my PowerTap that got the flat, this meant that I have no telemetry on the rest of my ride. As soon as I got the wheel on, I was off, chasing the pack for all I was worth. Since the pace so far hadn't been particularly fast, I was hoping that I might by some miracle be able to catch them. The pack was in my sight a lot of the time that I was chasing, but mostly on the uphill sections, so even though I could see them, by the time I reached the top of each hill they were long gone. After 30-40 minutes of hard effort chasing, I finally slowed up. Since most of the reason I signed up for the race was to get in a long, hard effort, I figured that it would be good practice pushing myself to time trial for a while. Eventually I caught up with some dropped riders and we rode another full lap of the course (about 19 miles) together. The others kept on, but I was tired from my solo effort and I also was not properly geared for the long climbs on my spare wheel. I didn't check, but I think the wheel I got after my flat had only a 25 or maybe a 26 on it, but with my standard double chainrings I usually need a 28.
Anyway, it was a very disappointing first race as a Cat 2. I really wanted to see how I could do in the 1/2 field and I didn't get a chance to try.
Field Size: 27
Length: 71 miles
Teammates: Kim and Sam
Place: DNF
I came out to the Berkeley Hills Road Race with Nancy (who did the Cat 4 race and got 5th) hoping to test my strength and see if I could stay with the pack until the finish. Unfortunately, I was out of luck. About 7 miles in, I got a flat going through town. I later found out that it was a rather large sliver of glass that caused a fairly fast flat. Unfortunately, even though the follow car had wheels in it, the car was not with the pack because someone else had flatted shortly before I did. This meant that it took at least a minute for the follow car to reach me, plus another 30 seconds or so to swap the wheel out. Since it was my rear wheel with my PowerTap that got the flat, this meant that I have no telemetry on the rest of my ride. As soon as I got the wheel on, I was off, chasing the pack for all I was worth. Since the pace so far hadn't been particularly fast, I was hoping that I might by some miracle be able to catch them. The pack was in my sight a lot of the time that I was chasing, but mostly on the uphill sections, so even though I could see them, by the time I reached the top of each hill they were long gone. After 30-40 minutes of hard effort chasing, I finally slowed up. Since most of the reason I signed up for the race was to get in a long, hard effort, I figured that it would be good practice pushing myself to time trial for a while. Eventually I caught up with some dropped riders and we rode another full lap of the course (about 19 miles) together. The others kept on, but I was tired from my solo effort and I also was not properly geared for the long climbs on my spare wheel. I didn't check, but I think the wheel I got after my flat had only a 25 or maybe a 26 on it, but with my standard double chainrings I usually need a 28.
Anyway, it was a very disappointing first race as a Cat 2. I really wanted to see how I could do in the 1/2 field and I didn't get a chance to try.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Hair cut 5/7/2010
As I had previously mentioned, I decided a while back that whenever I got my Cat 2 upgrade, I would cut my hair. So, I got it cut yesterday. I'm very happy with it at a short length, but it's still long enough to put in a ponytail. I donated the rest of it, which was probably between 10 and 14 inches (I didn't measure). It's nice to have my hair short again - it hasn't been this short since I cut it last in my senior year of high school. It fits nicely under a helmet, and I won't need to do anything special underneath an aero helmet.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Cat 2 Upgrade!
My upgrade to Cat 2 was just approved! I wasn't entirely sure I'd get it, because there was a rule change recently about mixed category field sizes and how they count towards upgrade points. It's now been clarified to state that in a mixed field, only racers in your category or above count towards the size of the field. This made the field size from Apple Pie go down to a level below a threshold such that it gave me one less point, so according to the new official rules, I would only have 24 points. However, I decided to apply anyway, and it seems that I have been found worthy! Hooray!
LGBRC Cat's Hill Criterium 5/1/2010
Category: W3/4
Field Size: 35
Length: 10 laps
Teammates: Josie, Emily, Nancy
Place: 12th
The course was shaped like a backwards L going clockwise, and directly after turn 3 was Cat's Hill. The hill is only one block long, but it's a 23 percent grade, followed by a false flat, a tiny downhill, a little up around a corner, another false flat, then a long bumpy descent into the final turn. We started a bit late, due to a crash earlier, but when we started it was fast. Going up the hill was pure torture for me, since I'm still fairly heavy due to my muscular build. It hurt less when I was in my lowest gear or two, but my heart rate was sky high no matter what, and the pace never let up so even on the downhill I couldn't recover much. Maybe halfway through (or less) a group of four riders broke away and they gained on the pack pretty steadily until we knew that we wouldn't catch them. I was in the main pack and I know that it was all that I could do to hang on, let alone try to chase. The pack wasn't working well together, but I think most of us were really giving it all we had. Throughout the race, we lost people pretty steadily. I think out of 35, only 19 finished, and I was the last or nearly in the pack at 12th place, so we were pretty broken up by the end.
A couple of laps from the end, I realized that the combination of heat and exhaustion from the hard work was making me feel nauseous, and it only got worse. After the finish, I headed straight for a patch of shade and sat down, since I was still breathing heavily and feeling just awful. I recognized the feeling, having been very familiar with it from crew (especially after erg tests), and I knew that it would pass soon enough. It was the first time that I'd pushed myself that hard on the bike though, and it actually rather confirms what I had been thinking lately, that I've been unintentionally holding back in most of my races so far. I know that I'm capable of pushing myself to the edge, since I did for this race, so I need to get used to doing that again. Also I need to train better and do more intervals, since I realized that I haven't done almost any hard intervals and that's exactly what I need to be better at this kind of race, and even most races. Anyway, it felt good to really push myself, though I was slightly disappointed that I wasn't able to do better in the race. I guess I just need to train a little better, and maybe lose a bit of weight if I want to attempt any more super hilly races.
Since the LGBRC was hosting the race, I stayed after the races to do cleanup duty. We got to take down all of the fencing and such. It was kind of hard work, but I'd had enough time to recover so I was able to make myself useful.
Field Size: 35
Length: 10 laps
Teammates: Josie, Emily, Nancy
Place: 12th
The course was shaped like a backwards L going clockwise, and directly after turn 3 was Cat's Hill. The hill is only one block long, but it's a 23 percent grade, followed by a false flat, a tiny downhill, a little up around a corner, another false flat, then a long bumpy descent into the final turn. We started a bit late, due to a crash earlier, but when we started it was fast. Going up the hill was pure torture for me, since I'm still fairly heavy due to my muscular build. It hurt less when I was in my lowest gear or two, but my heart rate was sky high no matter what, and the pace never let up so even on the downhill I couldn't recover much. Maybe halfway through (or less) a group of four riders broke away and they gained on the pack pretty steadily until we knew that we wouldn't catch them. I was in the main pack and I know that it was all that I could do to hang on, let alone try to chase. The pack wasn't working well together, but I think most of us were really giving it all we had. Throughout the race, we lost people pretty steadily. I think out of 35, only 19 finished, and I was the last or nearly in the pack at 12th place, so we were pretty broken up by the end.
A couple of laps from the end, I realized that the combination of heat and exhaustion from the hard work was making me feel nauseous, and it only got worse. After the finish, I headed straight for a patch of shade and sat down, since I was still breathing heavily and feeling just awful. I recognized the feeling, having been very familiar with it from crew (especially after erg tests), and I knew that it would pass soon enough. It was the first time that I'd pushed myself that hard on the bike though, and it actually rather confirms what I had been thinking lately, that I've been unintentionally holding back in most of my races so far. I know that I'm capable of pushing myself to the edge, since I did for this race, so I need to get used to doing that again. Also I need to train better and do more intervals, since I realized that I haven't done almost any hard intervals and that's exactly what I need to be better at this kind of race, and even most races. Anyway, it felt good to really push myself, though I was slightly disappointed that I wasn't able to do better in the race. I guess I just need to train a little better, and maybe lose a bit of weight if I want to attempt any more super hilly races.
Since the LGBRC was hosting the race, I stayed after the races to do cleanup duty. We got to take down all of the fencing and such. It was kind of hard work, but I'd had enough time to recover so I was able to make myself useful.
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