On January 28, a bunch of LeadOut Racing riders went and raced the Cal Aggie criterium. My teammate Asa and I participated in the women's 4 category, a few friends rode the Cat 4/5 masters, and many rode the E3's. I was so nervous that race that I was actually shaking at the start line. Since my achilles injury, I've been nervous that I won't be able to ride as well. My sprint isn't fully there . Asa had to actually smack me and tell me to knock it off. Hey! I couldn't help it... I was nervous. The whistle blew and we started the race. While we were riding the first lap, we saw quite a bit of sketchy riding (we're 4's... we're going to see lots of beginners. Hey, at least they're out there!), so Asa looks at me and says, "We're going to the front for the first couple of laps." So we did. We rode through some of the s-turns that this course had, some girls got a bit catty, we raced. Over all, it was a good race. Like I mentioned before, I don't have my sprint back since my injury, and I had a pretty lame one at this race, but I rode hard enough to get 7th place. Asa got 5th. It was pretty awesome having a teammate and having some tactics. I know that pretty soon, Asa and I will have enough tactics to help each other win races! The Cat 4/5's did great. Our E3's took the win! It was a good day for LeadOut Racing. A really good day.
On February 11th and 12th, I switched gears and raced for CSUS at the Fresno State University collegiate race. I decided to upgrade to the Women's B this season, since it's my last season racing for CSUS, so this was my first race as a B. The road race was on the 11th, and it was the Madera road race part of it. The official told us to respect the roads because he doesn't want to lose that course for the Madera Stage Race. I told him, "We're ladies! We listen to rules, don't worry."
"Oh no," He said. "You ain't ladies. As soon as that jersey comes on, you're women. You can be ladies after the race." Touche. And we hear the whistle.
On the course description, they said that there was a 2.5 mile "rough" section. Rough my ass. There was hardly any road! We rode through it, felt fine, we all worked together. On the second go around in that section, my achilles practically gave me the finger. I decided to sit back, go into an easy gear, and the race was over for me. I crossed the finish line, but not in a very good placing. I didn't want to risk injuring my achilles even more because of one race.
The race had me really frustrated. Really? After a year and a half, my achilles still hurts this much? I stretched, did what I could, and relaxed. I wasn't too hopeful for the crit the next morning, but it is what it is.
On the 12th, we all got ready to race the crit. It was a fun, flat course with a few fun turns. We took a couple of laps before our race, lined up, and started our race. We had 4 primes in a 35 minute race, basically, every other lap. On the second lap, we had a prime, and I decided to sprint a bit. I basically wanted to play a bit. The girls definitely wanted to put a race on after that. I got second on the first prime, Stanford got first. The Stanford women's team had great teamwork going on. They knew how to block, lead out, and work together. It was great. So I started to follow them. I needed a wheel for the last couple of laps, so I used Reno and Stanford. At the last lap, I was about 10th wheel, sprinted at the end, and took 4th. Not bad for having an achilles that was hurting like no other the night before.
I went by my teammates after I took a cool down lap and a couple of the Stanford girls came by me and said, "Hey! Sac State, you're a powerhouse!" Dude. Awesome. One of my teammates told me that the Davis girls were giving me kudos, and on the cool down lap a couple of the Berkeley girls told me that it was good racing with me. It was a good race for me.
My achilles has been hurting the past 3 days. I'll get on the trainer tomorrow to see if I can start back up on my training. Hopefully I can.
Here's a video that one of my teammates took of our race:
Our next race is Stanford. The road race will be a killer, but the crit looks like another fun one. Here's to my achilles feeling up to it!
