Chico Stage Race

I really wanted to write something about the Top Sport Stage Race. There really isn't much to write about, though. I could sum that race up with this:

In case some of you didn't get it, my field had 13 Metromint ladies, so all I saw throughout the weekend were blue dots. They basically took control of the race and kept it that way. The only reason I finished the race was because I wanted the work out. I also found out that I can actually time trial. If I keep at it, I can actually become a pretty good time trialist. I was 7th overall in my first Stage Race.

Okay, on to the actual race I want to chat about...

Chico Stage Race
I was excited for this race. It looked like a good one for me. The road race has gravel in it, and we all know how I love to ride dirt, the TT is flat, and there's an L-shaped crit. Perfect! Thursday night I got sick... really sick. So there went that. I was also invited to guest ride for Red Peloton Racing. I was assigned to work for one of my teammates who had a great change of the GC. We all chatted and executed a plan for the road race.

Road Race

I felt like hell on Saturday (this feeling did not change throughout the weekend). I went to pick up my jerseys from my teammates and we chatted about our plan. Since I'm a confident rider when it comes to dirt and gravel, I was to lead Jen (our GC) out so she had the highest chance of winning the race. I've never ridden the race, so I anticipated the dirt too much. I wanted to ride it. As soon as I saw the hill with the gravel, I attacked and took Jen with me. About three quarters of the way through, I blew my last match. Claire Morgan from Folsom Bike took off and Jen followed. I went as fast as my legs could take me, which wasn't very fast. I blew my last match for my teammate, which was awesome, even though I was getting passed by people. Lauren and I rode through the finish line together, where I found out that Jen got second (Claire getting first). So the plan worked; Jen was in the GC.

As we were riding back to the truck, a bug decided to go under my sun glasses and bit right under my eye. At first I thought it was a bee but it wasn't, given that I didn't go into shock. That turned out to be awesome for the rest of the weekend, except without the awesome part.

Downtown Crit

Saturday night was terrible. I felt extremely sick, my head felt as if it were in a bubble, and my throat hurt. I woke up at 0400 and had a hard time sleeping. As I lied in bed, I thought, "I'll do the crit to help Jen and then I'm dropping out of the race." I had to meet my teammates at Starbucks at 0730, where I had some awesome coffee, chatted tactics, and I met more of the Red Peloton Racing members.

I got ready and warmed up a bit, which consisted of riding the course once, then putting on my arm warmers and shivering while watching the CAT 4 race. It was then time for our race. I took a lap just to get used to it with the pack, then Metromint attacked. Ugh. Okay. I answered the attack. After three laps, I was pretty warmed up and the games began. Metromint would attack, I countered. Attack, counter, attack, counter. I went for a prime, but failed on the first one since my legs weren't fully awake. That sprint woke them up a bit, though. There was a time bonus prime so we set Jen up to get it. She got it. Back to the front for me. Another prime, I got it. Kept it at the front. Metromint attacks, we go for a prime, I got the prime (a cool klean kanteen bottle!). Another time bonus prime and I tried to set Jen up for it, but I didn't think I did that awesome of a job. She still got it because she's got an awesome sprint.

At three laps to go, I looked at Lauren and told her I was going to attack at two to go, and to make sure that Jen is behind me. Lauren said, "Uh... are you sure?" and I just nodded and got into position. Two to go, I get to the front. One to go and I'm still at the front. We go around corner one and I see that Aliya (Chico Corsa) is attacking, so I counter. Right as I was countering after corner one, I hear bikes hitting asphalt. I just said, "No no, don't look back" and kept going. I really hoped that none of my teammates were in the crash. Last turn and we went all out. I eventually burned my last match and Jen was able to out-sprint Metromint. We got her the win!

I was going to do a cool down lap when I saw Jen had crashed on corner one. Wait... didn't she win? I lead her out, didn't I? Who the hell did I lead out!? It turns out that she had won. When she and the Metromint rider got to the corner, the course marshals gave them mixed directions, telling one rider to go straight and the other to turn, to avoid the first crash on turn one. The mixed directions made them run into each other. Jen was okay. That corner was a hot mess during the race. Whomever set the course up really needs to rethink the placement of those cones.

Time Trial

I'm surprised I was able to perform the way I did in the crit, but I should have probably dropped out of the race after that. I was still sick and I was feeling very crappy. Boyfriend got my TT bike ready and I went over to my time trial. I felt like I was in a fish bowl. The helmet didn't help the "fish bowl" feeling.

My warm up was standing under the sun and moping about being sick.

Compared to last week's time trial, I was really slow. It hurt, my throat was hurting, my nose was dripping because of my cold, and I couldn't breathe. My body also hurt more than it should have. There were crosswinds and headwinds, never a tailwind, so that was pretty painful, too. I finished in an okay time, but still pretty slow for me. Oh well. I really just wanted to get this over with.

I rode back to the truck and hung out for a while. Saw Boyfriend race and cheered him on as much as I could, which wasn't much because my throat was hurting like no other. We waited for results and saw that Jen got 3rd in the GC! Woo! I apparently got 5th or 6th or whatever and I got a pint glass. A nice surprise.

I should have dropped out after the crit. I suffered the consequences of not doing so on Monday and so far, today, too. I feel like absolute crap. I'm trying to lay low because the Red Kite Criterium is this Sunday, so I want to recover so I can race that with my new teammates!

So, what did I learn?

1) Road races are not my thing.

2) I'm definitely a crit racer. I love crits. 

3) I can become a decent time trialist if I practice.

4) It's awesome to race with a team!