Bicycles Plus/Sierra Nevada May Classic Criterium

I went into this crit wanting points and a podium. I have the endurance and my sprints are slowly but surely coming back. It's been a frustrating road, but thanks to my coach, my injuries aren't worse. I know that if it weren't for him, I wouldn't have progressed as much as I have. To be honest, my dumb ass would probably still be really injured.

Thanks to Alex Chiu for the photo! http://acaurora.smugmug.com

 I went to the race on 3 hours of sleep. I felt like hell. It was just a bad night overall. The most frustrating part was that I couldn't get the proper rest even though I wanted to do well in this race. I got there early because I wanted to see a few friends race in the 5's and a couple of friends in the 4's. The races were fun and I hung out and chatted. After that, I went to do a very poor warm up (I was exhausted), a few people came to talk to me, I gave up trying to warm up, and went out by the course, where I met up with a couple of teammates.

Asa (aka my sister from another mister) and I were in the women's 4 together. It was awesome being able to race with her. We lined up, did our neutral lap, and off we went.

The cool thing about this course is that it's fast and safe. The bad thing about this course is that it's fast and attacks don't usually stick. Yeah, you can attack, but most of the time you'll get caught unless you can get really organized or you're some freak of nature. The course is in the shape of a D, and the two turns that it has aren't sharp nor technical. Cake. If you're thinking of doing your first criterium, this is the course to pop your cherry.

Thanks to Alex Chiu for the photo! http://acaurora.smugmug.com

We started racing and I heard that there was a prime. $10. Okay. I went for it. So I sprinted, got it. I know I should have probably saved my legs for the final sprint, but dude, $10! Anyway, we went by, and another prime lap was belled. Asa went to the front and I followed. She led me out beautifully for the sprint. Got the prime. After that lap I told her not to worry about the other two primes since I wanted to save some legs for the final sprint. She agreed and we just kept going with the race. I pulled to the back of the group for a bit since I wanted to rest. Since this course is so easy, falling to the back of the group isn't that big of a deal. I rested for a bit, saw how many laps we had to go, and started to organize ourselves.

Thanks to Alex Chiu for the photo! http://acaurora.smugmug.com

Asa pulled me beautifully into the last sprint, but I was about two strides too behind in it and missed the podium by a tiny bit. Disappointment to the max. I got 4th, which yes, is still in the points, so I'm happy about that, but still disappointed. Damn. I was right there! At least now I know I have more than enough endurance and my sprint is coming back. Soon enough I'll be getting on that podium again!

We all gathered and I went to get my two primes. As I was waiting for them and I was chatting with people, one of the promoters said, "you got three primes?" Uh... I wasn't aware that I got a third prime but okay. That was a nice surprise. While I was waiting for the promoter to gather my prizes, a few people congratulated me on a good race, on my strength, and told me I was racing very strong out there. Some ladies came up to me and thanked me for a good and safe race. My coach said I did well but that we need to teach me to do less work. I agree. I'm pretty bad at that, but I'm learning. I'm telling you, internet, with his guidance, I'll be back on the podium!

Party time!

So what did I get as primes? Two bottles of wine, coffee, and $10. Basically, I got 4th place and a freakin' party. Not bad. At least I got points toward my upgrade, some wine, coffee, and enough cash to buy Asa and me some beer at Sam Horne's.

One of our CAT 3 racers and his daughter. 

We hung out a bit to watch some more racing, took some pictures, and hung out. Asa, Frank, and I had to set up course for one of our mountain bike races, Race Behind Bars, hosted at Folsom prison, so we couldn't make a day of race watching and, as Dean Alleger says, "trolling for racer boys," so we had to leave shortly after our race so we could get some food, a little bit of rest, and get back to work.

What happens with lack of sleep, racing, and working.

The day was fun. I'm still disappointed in my last sprint, but it's coming back. I look back at how hurt I was two months ago and I have improved a lot. People can't say I'm not improving, because damn, two months ago my achilles and calves were killing me. Now I'm able to sprint (sorta). It'll get back. I looked at my results from last year, and I got 10th in this same crit. Going from 10th to 4th isn't bad, though I still would have loved to be on that podium. It will come.

My next race is Cyclebration. The crit is the same course just the other direction. I'll race smarter. That podium and upgrade are inches away.

Step One Complete

I've reached the light!

I thought this moment would never come, but it came and it went. After all the work, studying, classes, having to deal with Sac State's horrible administration system... it's over. The light at the end of the tunnel finally came.

My best friend, Dan, my parents, and I all went to Power Balance Pavilion (dude, whatever. It'll always be Arco arena). Once we parked, I went to the graduate area and met up with some friends while Dan and my parents went to get a seat. All the psych graduates were hanging out and gleeing over the fact that, holy crap, we're finally done! We stayed around for a while, talking, jittering, taking pictures, and congratulating everyone we knew because hey, we're done. We went outside, took more pictures with Justine's family, went back inside, and started to line up to enter the ceremony.

Justine and me.

It was a very exciting moment. It didn't really hit us until we started to walk in. The ceremony was pretty boring, but it was all worth it. We then started to walk, and that's when it really hit us! Hey! We're walking, we're graduates, we have walked over step one (for some of us) on the path to our careers.

The goal for the ceremony while we were walking was to not trip. We didn't. Success!

A lot of hugs, smiles, some jumping (on my part), and more congratulations. We switched our tassel and went back outside, where we all found our families and took more pictures.

Leah, Justine, me, Jamie.

Parents and me. 

Dan and me.

What happens when you don't pay attention. 

After the ceremony, my dad had to go to work, so Dan, my mom, and I went to Red Robin to get food and celebrate with some fruity drinks. I was still all giddy from graduation and the fact that holy crap I'm done!!! A lot of fun times started to go on.


So, after Red Robin, Dan and I slept a bit because we were both tired. After our nap, we met up with Asa and Frank at Sam Horne's Tavern in Folsom for some more celebrating. And let me tell you, we (mostly I) celebrated. The whole night was pretty fun. We made some plans for the morning after, which, when you're celebrating, doesn't dawn on you that it will most likely hurt. Whatev. I'm a champ. I think.

Yeah, the morning hurt, but it was still fun. I met up with Frank and Asa and we went up to Tahoe to meet up with some of Asa's family. After getting sick (I never get car sick but hello, hangover!), which was a blessing in disguise, and eating some yummy food with Asa's family, we went to the lake and hung out, talked, and enjoyed good company.

Quote of the trip, "I don't always drink, but when I do, I make sure my liver knows its job." You're a champ, Old Blackie. You're a champ.

We came back home, I took a nap, and got the mountain bike ready to ride with Frank, Asa, and Cab. 19.5 miles of torture. It was an easy, easy ride, but my liver thought otherwise. It was pretty painful. In those few miles, I actually drank my whole CamelBak. "Drink, Kasea. Drink drink drink."
"Ugh, no mas."

Came home, chilled, watched movies, had fun, passed out, slept like crap. I did a road ride in the morning in which I felt as strong as a baby deer. I'm pretty sure I didn't "recover" from celebrating until noon on Sunday.

Went to see my horse and then had dinner, in which the question, "What's next?" popped up. I said I had a second interview for the Doctoral program in Sacramento. I know that I've mentioned that I was going to move to the Bay Area, but that program lost its APA accreditation, so that's out. There's one in Pleasant Hill that I like. So, I get asked, "What if you make it into the Sacramento one?" Well, then I made it in. Moving would be awesome. So many what ifs. New life, new people, new friends, new cycling. I know a few people there and a bunch of my cycling friends go there often. The riding is amazing. Sacramento is home, though, and I already have a bunch of cycling friends, family, and I'm the area's "registration girl." Choices. If I don't make it into the Sacramento program though, I have made another plan that doesn't involve me moving, but... I know. It's easy being a single 25-year-old girl with no commitments. I can just up and leave if I wanted to. The temptation is there.

After dinner, in which I scored a $50 gift card to Folsom Bike from my friends, I went out with Brandon to celebrate both of our graduations. I didn't get to go to his graduation party because I was dealing with some issues with my horse, but we still celebrated. A psych graduate and a nursing graduate in Midtown. It was fun. We even watched a Drag show that was going on in Faces and it was pretty amusing. I'm happy I got to spend time with him and we're planning on doing a huge celebration before he moves to Texas.

What a fun weekend. The picture on the left pretty much sums it up. Let's see what the future brings. I'm out of one tunnel... I guess the next logical step is to walk into a darker and longer one. I'm excited!

Finals Week: The Little Random Things

Little random things always happen. I just got done with an 85 question final and have a 5-hour break before my next final, which is an easy one. 

We're always so busy thinking of the crappy moments that we forget to give credit to the good ones. It's finals week, so we're all stressed. You walk into the library and I'm pretty sure we're all a term paper away from jumping into the river (eh, it's been warm. Shouldn't be too bad). While some crappy things have happened (I can't believe the betrayal that I have experienced!), so many good, funny, and random things have happened as well! Here's a weird story for you. 

A guy walks up to me as I'm getting my stuff ready in my truck and says, "I know this is going to sound really weird, but do you happen to have a wire hanger with you? I locked my keys in my car."

"Umm... I don't know. Let me check." I looked and didn't think I had one, so I said "Sorry. Good luck." So I went to buy a parking pass. As I was buying a parking pass for the day, a girl walks up to me and give me hers since she's done for the day. I've done this several times. Then I think, eh, I'll look again. Maybe I'll have something he can use to unlock his car. Look, look, look. Nothing. Look under the driver's seat. Well what do you know... I found a hanger. I go up to him, "It's really weird that I found this but here you go."

"Oh my goodness you're amazing! Thank you so much." Guy's face lit up like no other. It was pretty awesome. 

It's little things that help make a stressful day... stressful WEEK... better. Giving someone a parking pass that you're no longer going to use, finding random objects in your truck (seriously, wtf?) to help someone get their keys out of their car, watching someone's stuff in the library while they go to the restroom, being called beautiful by the owner of the Pho restaurant (I'm going to miss that place the most), etc. It's not hard to not be an asshole. People should do this more. 

Now... off to study for finals #5 and #6 of 6. Almost done...

Finals Week: Zombie Apocalypse

I don't have a race until the end of the month, though I've done some pretty cool rides since my last race that I could write about, and I don't have a bike to review just yet. But sometimes I like to have fun. So, instead of studying for finals (well, I have been studying but I get easily distracted), I've been surfing the internet/Facebook/Twitter/awesome stuff. A friend posted this on Facebook:


see more Lol Celebs

Who is on my team?

River Tam: She's hot and a bad ass. If my Latina fighting skills aren't enough, she'll definitely help out. Boom, baby!

Batman (Christian Bale Batman, thanks): He's hot, a bad ass, has a shit ton of gadgets and sweet, fast cars, and a fortress/Batcave. We're pretty set as far as housing, weapons, and transportation. Hot, rich guy. Okay.
















Snoop Dogg: Uh, hello! It's fucking Snoop Dogg! That alone is a WIN.

Gotta be pretty geeky every once in a while. Have some fun. Today, I will be finishing finals #2 and #3 out of 6 this semester (yup, SIX). Wish me luck. Hopefully I'll be coherent enough to get on my bike after these finals!

Golden State Race Series

On May 5th and 6th, Rio Strada racing hosted the Golden State criterium and circuit race, respectively. The night before I made sure I had everything ready and taped up my achilles. While my achilles isn't hurting too much, it's been really tight. Better safe than sorry.

Criterium

I arrived at the race, got my number (911... really? That's going on the wall), and saw that some of my old teammates from Team Revolutions were there. I decided to repark my 2500 diesel pick-up truck near my buddies, where there were nothing but compact spots. It fit perfectly. I warmed up with the Revs. Once of them, Karen, was in my race as well. Some of my new teammates spotted me and started chatting while I complained about how my legs weren't feeling it, wah wah wah, "holy shit don't post that picture on Facebook!" and so on.

After a crappy warm up, I lined up with the rest of the ladies. This was a 3/4 category, so meh, we knew what was going to happen. The 3's would decide that the 4's were annoying so they were going to try and drop us at whatever cost. Let's keep this in mind... the whatever cost.

A bunch of my teammates were there, cheering, taking pictures, etc. The official was telling us whatever notes they tell us before a race and then we hear the announcement, "The first two laps are prime laps." Ugh. Okay, so it was going to start fast and most likely stay fast. Hey, it's racing, I guess. Whistle blows and off we go.

Just as I expected, we started to go fast. We had a group of 40 women. It was one of the bigger fields I've been in for a while. Attacks started right off the bat, and because I'm me, I answered those attacks. The whole race went like that, attack, answer by whomever decided it was their turn to answer the attack, bring person back, attack, answer, attack, answer. The more we got into the race, the more attacks that were being executed, and the dumber that some chicks were getting. Hey, I completely understand being an aggressive rider, but you don't have to get stupid about it.

Since we had a lot of 3's there, I'm pretty sure they thought that they could intimidate a lot of the 4's by pressuring them off some wheels. It worked a lot of the time. A 3 would want a wheel, would get really close to a 4, and the 4 would give her wheel away. I'm a pressure rider, though. I've ridden and trained with people who don't have a bubble whatsoever and I'm comfortable with people bumping into me. It didn't work when a 3 would try to pressure me off my wheel, so elbows started to get thrown and quite a bit of bumping occurred. Oh, rly? Fine, do that, but I'm still not moving.

The race was pretty much the same the whole time. Attacks, surges, a lot of shitty bike handling, shitty turn-taking, bumping, bitching, and a crash. It happened right behind me. I didn't know who crashed until after the race, but that's racing. If you race, you'll most likely go down... or something.

I got myself in a bad spot for the sprint and didn't do much. So, no points for this race. Oh well. At least I know my fitness is there to keep up with a pretty fast race. I stuck around for the E3s since four of my teammates were there. These guys pretty much executed everything perfectly and Matt got the win, which was their plan. Awesome. These guys are pretty much textbook perfect in their tactics and know how to execute them. Took pictures of the podium and I apparently got awarded most aggressive rider in my race. Cool.

I went home and then decided to go on an easy spin. It was windy as hell. And then I went extra Mexican and decided to go do some celebration for Cinco de Mayo, which is pretty much like every other day in Mexico.



Circuit
I decided I was going to make a day of this. I went to the race, a bunch of girls came up to me, said hi, invited me to warm up with them. These are girls who live in the bay area, know me by name, and say very nice things about me. All because "[I'm] a powerhouse and very respectful racer." Giving my team a good name and being liked by other racer, I'll take that.

So, I did my thang for warm up, which consists of mostly working my jaw muscles due to chatting too much with people and spacing out while on the trainer for 45 minutes. I then rolled around the parking lot and saw my teammates, so I talked to them, then decided that I should probably line up. 2.1 mile course, officials said whatever officials say, the promoter told us that there had been a miscommunication that the 3's and the 4's could be started at different times, which most of the women are happy about. However, it didn't go through, and most of the women were very unhappy about that. So, the promoter said some words, worked his politics, probably to make the women feel better about the decision, and went on about women's racing and money and promoting races... whatever. The point is, we didn't start at different times and people were pissed, so he tried to make them feel better. Did it work? For some. Others were still pissed and nearly sat out the race.

The race was the same as the crit. Attacks, answers, attacks, answers. Only this time it was a lot more aggressive. Elbows were being thrown for sure, and I was getting annoyed. I don't say anything during a race, mostly because I don't want to be marked at "that rider," (or in women's racing, "that bitch") and I like to keep a good name for my team. This was getting ridiculous, though. Not only did I get to make friends with a lot of elbows, the sketchiness and dive-bombing turns was just stupid. No reason to do something like that in a fairly easy course. This circuit was not technical, yet some chicks couldn't ride their bikes in a straight line.  Actually, the squirrels that crossed our path during the race ran a straighter line than some of these chicks.

The last two laps were the worst. Way too many close calls. I got pinned in the last chicane. It was an easy one, too. Straight line. But for some reason it seemed like it was an impossible task to go in a damn straight line. Okay. So I figured out where I needed to be. On the last lap, in a different spot, someone decided to slam on her brakes and nearly caused a crash, I got elbowed and pinned on the turn. A lot of "fuck fuck fuck!" was being thought by me. I realized though that as soon as I touched my brakes, it was over. I rolled through the finish line.

Thanks to Alex Chiu for the photo! http://acaurora.smugmug.com

It was definitely one of the most aggressive races I've been in. I guess it's expected. But damn, I was in such a good spot in that chicane and then that happens. Oh well. I'm sure I'll remember that chick's elbow for a long time. Maybe I'll see it in my next race. At least now I know how she plays the game, right?

How awesome is this!?

So, I stayed the rest of the day. Took pictures, hung out with a bunch of friends, and saw a lot of amazing and beautiful legs bike racing. I watched the E3's race, where 4 of my teammates raced, and the guys swept the podium. Matt, once again, won as was planned. There was a break away for a while during the race with about a 16 second lead on the last lap. Asa said, "Well, I guess that's the only way you can beat the LeadOut guys." Yeah, right. Into the last chicane, the guys were 1,2,3 and took over the race. They were going about 5 - 8 mph faster than the rest of the field through that turn. Amazing racing by these guys!

Brad and my teammate Eric raced the E4's, which was also a fun race!  Brad and I went on an adventurous ride after his race and then came back to see some more racing.

The guys chatting after the P1/2/3, where Chuck (Marc Pro/Strava) won.

It was an overall good day. A bit disappointing, but I learned quite a bit. I won't be making the same mistake in future races. 

Bike Review: Leopard 26" Hardtail Mountain Bike

I'll start off by saying that I'm a roadie. I enjoy road cycling a lot. I especially love crits; the more technical the crit, the better for me. Road riding is definitely my favorite cycling discipline. However, I also like variety, so I go on the dirt every once in a while. It scares the ever-loving hell out of me but I also enjoy it. I don't enjoy racing mountain bikes as much as I enjoy racing road bikes, but it's fun to get dirty every now and then.

Point is that rocks and trees jump out at you on the trails. I have the same problem when I endurance/trail ride my horse. Damn trees just... jump. Add the fact that I have no depth perception due to a terrible polo accident and it's pretty much game over. However, I've been hanging out with some really dirty people (well, dirt-loving mountain bikers) who told me to stop being a wuss, so I started riding the mountain bike again.

Isn't this Little Kitty cute!?

This time I'm riding a Leopard hard tail 26", except there's the extra level of making it a fully rigid bike. That's right. This newbie is riding this kitty with style. At first I was extremely concerned that I wouldn't be able to ride the bike. One, I'm not a mountain biker. I hadn't been on a mountain bike in months. Two, there are absolutely no shocks on the bike. Three, I'm not a mountain biker. Naturally I went out with experienced people who were probably half asleep on the bike while I was in the back, squeaking (that's what I do when I get scared of something), getting laughed at by all those dirty mountain bikers.

Warming up for PCRS

To be fair, the bikes that I have ridden in the past have not fit me. They were too big and one of them was a full suspension bike whose (large) owner was not willing to adjust. I felt like the bike was going to buck me off. This Leopard is a small frame, which fits me perfectly because I'm not a very tall person. Even though I hadn't been mountain biking in months, it only took me a few minutes to get used to the Leopard. I felt extremely comfortable on it. As we got to the rockier sections of the trail, I was concerned that I may have to walk a lot. Nope. Rode right though it. Granted, the fact that I have no shock made it a bit rough, but it wasn't uncomfortable at all.

I kept riding through the trails. I got off the bike on some of the more technical sections, but I rode through most of it. Parts of the trail that I had never felt comfortable riding came a bit easier with the bike. The fact that the bike fits me is a huge plus, but the bike handles very well. It's responsive but not too much. It gives room for error.

Lost my number, but this was at one of the races at PCRS

So, I did the next most logical thing and I started racing it. I started racing in the Prairie City Mountain Bike Series and have been having a blast. Two of the three races that I've done have been a complete muddy mess. I've already had to change the pads on the bike. Hopefully I won't have to do it this week because the race was horribly (in every sense of the word) muddy and slippery. I've actually tried to go at faster speeds out in these weekly races. Like I said, the bike handles well. Prairie City is known for all of the baby heads, and while it's really rough without a shock, I don't feel unsafe. The bike is extremely impressive at how manageable it is even in really rough conditions. I've already ridden it in dry weather, semi-rainy weather (I rode it in Cool as well), deep sand at Folsom Lake (there's a video a few entries below), and twice in an absolutely slick mud-fest, and it has been fine. Like any bike on slick or sandy conditions, it will try to slide from underneath you, but it's easy to correct. At least it seems so comparing it to the Specialized bikes that I've ridden. Not raggin' on Specialized, just saying it's different... and I've crashed way less on the Leopard. Sooo...

C'mon! You can't say this doesn't look like fun!

One thing I'd like to try is riding this bike with a front shock. I don't like full suspensions; I like the hardtails (keep those jokes to yourself), so this bike is nearly perfect. It would be interesting to see how compatible this bike and I are with a front shock. I also need to try it out on the pump track.

What I'm trying to say is that if a strict roadie like me can hop on this bike, ride it, and win a couple of races with it (so far I've gotten two firsts and a second at Prairie City), then anyone can ride it. I mean, c'mon! It's a 26" with no shocks and I feel extremely comfortable riding it. I recommend a test ride on it; you won't be disappointed!

First Annual Town Center Criterium

On April 22nd, Folsom Bike hosted the Town Center Criterium in El Dorado Hills, CA. LeadOut Racing partnered up with Folsom Bike to put on the race, provide some muscle, and help with the course/venue. I, as usual, worked registration.

I got there at 5:20-ish am. Yeah. I woke up when it was nighttime. Who does that!? I didn't race until 8:05am, which meant I didn't get on the trainer until 7:30 or so, but I got there early to help Gene from Time Your Race, who did all of the registration and made it easy for racers and volunteers. No, really, this man works magic or something!

We set up, got a rush of racers registering, and kept things moving along and smoothly. We didn't get many cranky early-morning racers, which was good! I left the registration tent around 7am or so to change and warm-up. I went by the medic's tent, which is where my coach was since he was one of the medics at the race, and warmed up. My warm-up was plain crap. I felt tired, my legs felt like lead, and I wasn't really able to get my heart rate all that high even when I tried. Wah wah wah add some more whining. Awesome, only not. Looking at the women who were going to race with me, I figured I would get dropped about mid-race.

Copyright 2012 Alex Chiu Photography. . http://acaurora.smugmug.com 

All of the racers in the Women's 4 lined up, the official told us we were going to race for 40 minutes. Oh... OH! I thought I was racing for 30. Whatever. More time for these women to drop me. We had a mentor, whom I didn't know but she was awesome, and went off on a neutral lap, which was fast for a neutral lap and I felt like crap during it so hooray for me. (I would like some cheese). We did a rolling start, so when we were at the start/finish, the whistle was blown and off we went. I don't exactly know what the hell happened, but as soon as that whistle blew, my legs felt awesome. Off we went...

Copyright 2012 Alex Chiu Photography. http://acaurora.smugmug.com 

I was in the top 5 for a few laps. We kept going a bit, then I decided I wanted to play a little and attacked on the little hill we had. I got away for a bit but this wasn't a course where I would be able to solo breakaway for a long time without help, so I slowed down on the backside and tried to get on a wheel. We heard the prime bell and we ramped up the pace. $50? Okay! A Rio Strada girl and I sprinted for it, but I had sprinted too late and she got it. Kept on going, stayed in the top 3 or so and sometimes in the front. Another prime bell. Sprinted for it. Got it. $20. First time I've ever gotten $20 for a prime! After that prime I decided that I wanted to save some of my sprint for the end, so I didn't try for the last 2 primes. My coach was on the side hollering at me some strategies because, let's face it, I have no clue. For most of the time I tried to get on someone's wheel. I was able to do so in the corners by strategizing where I take my turn. Most of the girls kept taking the same lines, so I was pretty confident that they would keep the same lines throughout the race. I took some turns wide while some girls took them somewhat sharp, they would lose the wheel they were following, and oh hey! Look at that, the wheel they lost is now mine.

Copyright 2012 Alex Chiu Photography. http://acaurora.smugmug.com 

I somehow ended up in the front (I need to learn some patience) and one of my LeadOut Racing teammates, Kevin, told me to settle down a bit. Did the whole wide turn thing, heard my other teammate Matt hollering some strategy as well, then heard my coach. Got a wheel and kept about 4th or 5th wheel in the group. Coach said to stay in that spot (at least that's what I heard while my heart was trying to come out of my ears).

A Red Peloton girl and I broke away for a little and I told her, "Hey. Five second pulls. Let's go!"
"This is racing. There are no rules baby!" She responded. Wait what? Then she comes next to me and says, "I just realized what you said." We were cracking up... or at least as much as you can while you're at race pace.

We heard the last lap bell ring and we ramped up the pace. I was able to keep up with the surges, which surprised me and made me happy. Since my legs had that weird pain/knot/ihateyouwtf feeling, I haven't been able to keep up, but I did. I kept patient around the last lap. A Rio Strada girl took a wheel I was following, which put me fourth in the group. Came into the last turn, sharp, pedaled, sprinted. I was able to sprint the best I have since my injuries. I know that one of the Rio Strada girls and I threw the bike at the sprint since we were close, another Rio Strada girl won (the one who was first around the corner) and Tibco was in there as well. At the end of the race I figured I was 4th or 5th. Ugh. Another one of those spots. Whatever.

Picture that my friend, Natalie, took!

We went to the debriefing by our mentor, who was very happy with our race. She said we kept it safe and fast and that we took our lines well. Some of the girls came up to me and said I was strong and thanked me for a good race. Cool!

I went to talk to my coach, who seemed happy with how I rode. He gave me lots of feedback. I was happy that I was pain free and that I was able to sprint, but not happy that I got another 4th or 5th place.  Oh well. I went to get my $20. One of my friends, Natalie, came to watch me race so I talked to her for a bit too. I've never had a friend go to a race just to see me race, take pictures, and cheer, so I was super stoked that she went to the race! Thanks again, Natalie!

Back to the registration tent I went, where I was stoked about my $20 and went to cool down because my legs were shaky and I felt like I was going to puke. Oh good! At least I know I tried, right? Pfft. I cooled down a bit and people were asking me what my results were. I told them I didn't know and that I was waiting for Gene to finish with results, to which he then walked up to us and said, "Third." I didn't believe him because he had his Gene smirk but nope, there it was, 3rd!

So I told my coach, who also thought I got 4th or 5th due to the angle he was in. He looked as happy as I was! Woohoo! I didn't shame my coach out there (haha!). I then went back to the registration tent and as I was walking, the Red Peloton girl said, "Hey Kasea! 5 second pulls."
"There are no rules in racing, baby!" I replied to her. Good times for us.

I went back, drank some water, and chatted did some registration stuff. Then they had podiums and holy crap, I was on it! I was pretty happy with that... Hell, I still am!

The rest of the day went well. Not many crashes, registration went smoothly (for the most part), I was super tired, and we were all hungry. As Gene put it, "I'm running on muffins and coke!" I was able to watch some friends race, some wins and more podiums for them, which is awesome! I went on a break to watch the last half of the P/1/2 race and hung out with some old Team Revolutions teammates and my coach, where he talked to me a bit more about my training, which I'm excited about! Watched the end of the race, said my good-byes and thanked my coach, and went to tear down registration. After everything was done, Gene treated Jessica (another awesome registration girl) and me for some Thai food.


From what Strava says, I was able to get my sprint up to 30.7mph, almost got my heart to explode (199 bpm), and had a pretty good race average. It's a bit lower because I forgot to stop my Garmin after the race so it includes the "cool down" lap. Whatever, man.

It was a good race! I got on the podium, I was pain free, I won some cool stuff and $20, and I got some upgrade points! Now to repeat this so I can become a CAT 3 soon...

Thank you Folsom Bike for putting this on, and thanks LeadOut Racing for providing muscle, man/woman power, and registration people to make it all happen!

Bike Review: Leopard TT1

Alright, so we've all been guilty at one point or another of oogling a TT bike. For newbies, some of those TT bikes can look quite awesome and fast. For more seasoned riders, some of those bikes look awesome, fast, and plain sexy. I've had the pleasure of racing the Leopard TT1  for a couple of time trials and let me tell you, that this bike is sexy.

TT riders and bikes (also: Tri bikes and triathletes) have this stereotype that they can only ride in a straight line. While we all know it's not 100% true, the stereotype is there for a reason. Not only do some people not know how to handle a bike, time trial bikes aren't known for their awesome cornering and turning. However, after getting used to the TT1 (took all of 5 miles), I was pretty impressed at how stable it is. I didn't have any of the "oh crap!" moments I've had with other bikes and I was able to descent comfortably. Bike-handling comes easy with this baby.

Folsom Bike South Canal TT

Not only does this bike handle well, it's fast and it looks good. You can't ask for much more. The bike may be a bit pricey for some people, but in this case I've found that you get what you pay for; the bike is worth it. Well built, comfortable, and steady. You don't find that in a lot of time trail bikes.

Check out the website, see if you can find a dealer or a rep near you, try one out. I assure you that you'll want one. It's a great bike. If you're in the Sacramento area, just hit us up and you can test the one in the pictures. Once you ride that Devil, you'll want it all for yourself! Feel free to drop a comment and I'll get you the info you need.





Note: Before you all go on saying that I stole these pictures, I had permission by the very talented Alex Chiu to use these pictures on this post. I wanted his water mark on the pictures so I could give him credit he deserves. Heck, check out his website and see how awesome of a photographer he is. Let's support our local photographers, eh? Thanks, Alex! We're lucky to have such a talented person in our area!

UC Berkeley Crit, UC Davis Crit and Conference Reports

Things have been up and down as far as racing. Not only do I have an injured achilles, my legs have decided to stop working. My calves, especially the left one (the side of pretty much all of my injuries), developed huge, horrible knots. My legs, specifically the calves, were tender to a simple touch. Weird. So, I took time off (per coach's orders). Was I happy? Not at all, but considering how crappy the Land Park Crit and the UC Berkeley Crit went, I listened. Why were they crappy? My legs were in way too much pain to be able to do anything.

The good news is that the knots are getting smaller, but not after a lot of painful softball rolling (the knots were so bad that the foam roller wasn't doing a thing), stretching, and heat/ice therapy. Since I've been doing that and after my mandatory rest, my legs have been pain free. In fact, the smaller the knot in my left calf, the less my achilles hurts. It makes sense if you think about it. 

I decided to skip the UC Davis road race on Saturday, April 7th. I rode with my old teammates from Team Revolutions instead. It was a good choice. I haven't felt that strong on the bike in a long time! I kept up with very strong riders, one of them even said that it was the strongest he has ever seen me ride. Awesome! The ride went so well that I had to text my coach right after it was done. Finally a good ride. 

I raced the UCD Crit on Sunday, April 8th. I was nervous because the fear of my legs going back to that painful, ugly state lingers. After a horrible warm-up where everything was going wrong (Garmin taking a poop, cable going slack, etc), I checked out the very technical course and lined up. The turns were tight; one was a 90 degree turn, the other a 120 degree turn. This was a "test" race, in which I just wanted to see if my legs would respond. I took off on the first 6 laps to drop the weaker riders so that the turns would be less crowded. From what I saw, it worked. I didn't get much rest, I just did a lot of the work and kept going. I got a prime and 5th place in that race. Not bad for having such crappy legs. Several of the girls said that I would be winning if I had teammates helping me. Maybe. It is what it is. 

I went to conference hosted at UNR. On April 14th, I raced 2 crits, USAC and Women's B. The course was a lot of fun, with a little hill and a lot of freakin' elevation. That's what got me. Touche, Reno. You got me again with your 4,500 feet of elevation. I got 3rd and a prime in the USAC crit, representing LeadOut Racing, which got me a lot of goodies. I've never won so much stuff in a crit before! I won't be buying shot blocks for a while (yay!). The Women's B collegiate crit was later that day. It was fun. I got 8th in that crit. My legs were pretty tired. I've never raced 2 crits in a day before. Pain and fun all in one package. I'm glad I did it.

The UNR Conference road race was on Sunday, April 15th. Pretty much a climber's race. We went out and I kept up with the main group. Awesome. Last year I got dropped on mile 12 of that race. I attacked at some point and was able to keep a solo break away for a few miles. I got caught on the climb, the girls gave me kudos (since my attack was the cause of the main group dropping the most dangerous rider in our division), and we kept on riding. It was a lot of fun being able to keep a breakaway for a while; I've never been able to do one! So, hey, I was happy. As we were climbing, we crossed paths with UCSD that dropped out of the race and were just riding. One of the girls had cookies, so her teammate turned around and gave us all cookies! It was funny, awesome, and made for a fun and great race! That doesn't happen often (haha!). At the harder part of the climb, a Davis girl and I got dropped, so we rode in together. My legs definitely felt the weekend (but no pain like before, just the good kind of "burn"), but that was the goal: to race my legs into uselessness. Davis and I chatted while we finished the race and she said that the whole Davis team likes me and and thinks I'm a great rider. That's awesome to hear! We crossed the finish line. I got 8th in that race again, which got me a 9th overall in the Women's B devision in our region. I consider that good since I hardly went to any collegiate races. 

Awesome thing about Conference is that our sponsor got us an RV, so we were able to stay at the race sites! How awesome is that!? Lucky that we have such an awesome sponsor! He also bought us a nice dinner and lunch. CSUS got spoiled! 

This is my last collegiate season. I'll consider it a successful one getting top 10 in my region while hardly racing and being injured. I had a lot of fun. Hopefully I'll be able to stay involved as the team grows as an alumni!

Stanford Collegiate Race

I'll start off by saying that in the preceding 2 weeks before this race, I had been on the bike for 2 hours. Why? My body was pissed. I'm not really sure what happened, but I wasn't feeling well at all. Coach said overtraining and stress. Probably. That week was academically (plus more) stressful. So, after experiencing much dissonance and externally justifying why I should go, I went, even though I knew it was stupid, hence the dissonance I felt. Two teammates and I left Sacramento on Friday evening.

Stanford Road Race, March 3rd

The road race didn't start until late morning because Stanford schedules the TTT first. Awesome. We got to sleep a little more! We all got ready and headed to Hollister, where the race was basically an out and back... because it was a climb. Eh, we all know how well I climb, so I knew I'd probably get dropped wherever the grade got steep. As we kept racing, I stayed with the group (17 girls). I actually stayed with the group for most of the race, until we reached the climb and I got dropped with a couple of other girls. We kept riding, got to the turn around, and the group was maybe 30 seconds ahead. Basically, I didn't climb as poorly as I thought. I saw a few of my teammates coming down as I was riding to the turn around point and everyone looked great! One of the Men's D was ahead of the field on a break, so it was great to see.

The way down, there were a few sketchy areas, but nothing too horrible. I was working with a Cal Poly girl who was all over the place. She's nearly caused several crashes and is constantly being told off in the field since the girls get pissed off. She then stopped working and just sucked on my wheel. I eventually got annoyed and said, "Hey, Cal Poly, if you're going to suck on some wheel, at least do some of the work."

I finished 8th out of 17 girls. Surprised me, because I suck on climby races and, oh right, I had only ridden 2 hours, on a trainer, the 2 weeks prior. Whatever. I'll take it. I didn't have a sprint at all, but I was able to finish in a decent spot.

We all got together and chatted. Brandon, our Men's D, won the race... by 20 minutes! The guys in the B, C, and D categories had strong finishes as well. We went to get lunch and came back for the men's A race. We waited, chatted, goofed off, pretended we cared about school work, sort of napped, chatted more, and then we went to the finish line to see the end. We saw the women's A finish, and then a solo rider a few minutes after them. We realized he was wearing a CSUS kit! Chuck, crossing the finish line all suave-like won the A's race by 40 seconds. The other 2 A's finished strong as well! It was great! 2 wins for CSUS!

We went to a different hotel in Morgan Hill, ate, chatted, and went to bed for the crit the next day.

Stanford Crit, March 4

We woke up way early to go to the crit, which was held at the Specialized business park. It was pretty awesome! Specialized opened for the event. The D's went first, then the WC, then the men's C, which was pure carnage. A 35 minute race turned into over an hour. Two guys got taken away in an ambulance, one of the crashes happened right in front of me. Psyched me out. After all of that drama was over, the Women's B started. We all made a point of not being douche bags and race intelligently.

The course was fun. It was flat and fast. I was stupid and stayed at the front too much. Oh well. We had a good race. Nothing out of the ordinary happened except a few attacks, but those were just fun and made the race interesting. I got 8th again. No sprint at all. If I at least had a sprint in me, I would have been able to get a better placing. No idea what's wrong with my legs, but it's just not there. Oh well. Hopefully things get better after this. Still not bad considering I wasn't on the bike very much.

We hung out for a bit, chatted, did whatever road racers do before a crit. One of our A's said, "The secret to winning is to have no one in front of you when you cross the finish line." Oh... noted! I'll keep that in mind next time my legs say, "gtfo."

We stayed for the rest of the races. Men's B was fun and we had 4 racers in the Men's A. Solid finishes for all of them and it was a lot of fun seeing them get organized. I'm pretty sure one of them got top 5.

After the A's race was over, 2 of my teammates and I left. A few teammates stayed to do a second USAC crit. The rest of us went home to sleep.

It was a fun race. I'm glad I went through with it. I was able to ride the Monday after the race and felt pretty good. Hopefully my body's mojo is back and I'll be able to train better for the Berkeley race next weekend!

This picture is compliments of one of my teammates, who came up with new lyrics to the song Low by Flo Rida. "Apple bottom bibs, boots with the fur, she had the whole bike race looking at her. Baggy sweatshirt with the Grammo in all black, on the first climb she threw down an attack. Next thing you know, 1k to go, shawty unleashed a sprint and got low low low." Thanks, Matt.