Raisins: Are There Worse Things?

The answer is no.

One thing I really dislike absolutely loathe with a horribly angry passion is raisins. I hate raisins. I didn't know a person could hate such a small and pruned-up fruit. I love grapes, but dry them out and I start to freak out.

This is pretty much what I see.

A couple of years ago, I went to Disneyland with my then boyfriend and his family. We decided to get breakfast at some place in Downtown Disney, and I decided to get a carrot muffin. The muffin looked delicious, so I bit right into it and, to my horror, saw that it had raisins. I accidentally ate a raisin that morning and pretty much mentally freaked out.

It was pretty devastating. I had just eaten a raisin and the rest of them were just there, in their tiny raisin-ness, taunting me. If you think that raisins can't taunt you, you're wrong. And no one seemed to care that I had just eaten a nasty raisin. Everyone was telling me how delicious raisins are (gross). I then spent the next 30 minutes picking every single raisin out of my muffin.

I'm not allergic to raisins and I used to eat them as a child, so I don't know what started to freak me out about raisins. I don't mind if a raisin touches my food, but I can't eat them. They're gross. Raisins are pretty much the devil incarnate in my eyes.

And it's not as if I can hide my hate for raisins. It's pretty obvious by the look on my face that raisins pretty much freak me out. And because of that, I'm the target for a lot of jokes. At one point, one of my training partners would bring me a box of raisins on every training ride. He thought it was hilarious. I didn't. I'm pretty sure I ended up throwing each box of raisins far away from me. I really can't remember; I kind of just go into a blind freak out when raisins are near me.

I wish I could say that my dramatic hate for raisins was in jest, but it's not. I guess that there are worse things than raisins, like cactus and papaya, and like, war and shit. I'm actually allergic to papaya and cacti, when ingested, make me sick. Even though they make me sick, they still don't freak me out as much as raisins do.

I really hate raisins.

"This is Why I Don't Have a Girlfriend"

Well, I've never had a girlfriend because I don't swing that way, but this post is mostly about the weird things that I do/watch/say. The internet has made it especially easy for that phrase to come up in conversation. So many funny pictures of cats. So. Many. Cats!

Whenever I first meet someone, I'm always a little reserved on the things I reference. Movies are a pretty safe way to go, unless you reference a porno or something; that doesn't usually go as well and you get labeled as the "weird one." Getting super excited while simultaneously being perplexed after learning that you can watch porn on your iPhone can also make you the "weird one," unless you're with the friends who gave you that useless fact.

I keep somewhat of a filter when I hang out with a new buddy because I don't want to be judged, and let's face it, I have a lot to be judged about, so I try to not give people even more fuel. You'd think I'd be used to being judged but I'm not. I try not to reference weird videos that I watch. I try to keep those references hidden, until I can't control myself and say "ohmygod shoes" when I pass a shoe store. That's when I realize I failed to keep my weirdness hidden and it's just a snowball effect. 

However, sometimes I'm not the only weirdo in the group. Some weirdos fail at "normal" before I do (which makes me feel way better). They reference some weird video that I've had on replay before (don't judge!) or a funny picture they saw on 9gag.com or something. At that point, I trample their weirdness by getting overly excited that someone is just as weird as I am! I basically jitter in my seat and then the other weirdo and I go into another snowball effect of vomiting weird references. 

It helps us stay entertained. You don't have very many awkward silences when you have a couple or more weirdos together. It's a good way of getting to know someone, too. Once the weirdness breaks out of its shell, you realize you have so much in common with the other weirdo. Music, food, jokes, stories. You find all of these great similarities even though the other person is completely different than you. 

It's awesome that this happens. When you meet a person who shares your weirdness, tasks that are usually extremely boring become a little lot less boring. It doesn't matter what it is (cleaning stalls, working registration at a bike race, being stuck in traffic, tearing down a bike course, showering), it automatically becomes more fun, and that's freakin' awesome!

Bike Review: Grammo Toa

I told the guys at Grammo that I would write a review on this bike. I haven't written a review yet because this is usually what happens to me when I mountain bike:

This is about the time I really squeak :(

The first time I rode the Toa was at Fall Flash. I decided to "race" Fall Flash for some extra dirt fun. I raced the Expert category, even though I'm no expert. I went out for a practice lap and I was amazed at how easily the bike handled. The Toa is a hard tail but it was still as if I were riding on a fluffly cloud. I was happy and impressed with that. Too bad that I flatted on the first race, but still. The second race on it was even more awesome because I was more comfortable with the bike and decided to have a little bit of fun with it... and I didn't crash on either race!

Point and shoot at its finest.

I then decided that, hey, now that I have a pretty sweet ride, I want to go out and do some more fun rides, so I went out and rode the Connector and Forest Hill Divide Loop for the first time. Okay, so that time I did crash, but it wasn't because of the bike. I crashed because I'm dumb and I can't turn on slippery and dry dirt. 

Boom! Sprinter's leg.

Those trails are a bit more technical than the ones I usually ride. That's what I want, though. I want to keep going out of my comfort zone so my skills can improve. Now that I have an awesome bike for it, I'm able to do so without freaking myself out too much. The fact that I enjoy wearing the trail is a different story that I have no desire to explain (mostly because it just means that I'm still a newb when it comes to riding dirt). The squeaking happens when I'm scared. It's amusing and cheap entertainment for those who ride with me. 

The bike rolls over pretty much anything that I point it at, except for giant logs and boulders. Apparently I need a new skill set for those obstacles or something. Lines that I would have never thought of taking come easy with the Toa. Surprisingly easy. It's almost as if there was a catch to it... maybe it'll sprout a brain and buck me off after each obstacle or something, but no. This is a bike and that's completely irrational to think it would ever do that to me. I think...

I've gone back to the Forest Hill Divide Loop and each time, I ride more and more of the trickier stuff. Same with Granite Bay. I've even gone to Truckee on trails that I've never seen before and had an absolute blast (and surprisingly didn't crash). In fact, I haven't really crashed since the crash that I mentioned earlier (so now I'm going to crash on my next ride. Smooth.)

Pretty sweet, eh?

The bike is awesome. I'm simply in love with it. I felt right at home as soon as I got on it and it gives me the confidence to tackle things I haven't tackled before. I've definitely become a much better mountain biker since I got this bike. It's gotten me addicted to the dirt.

I never knew the 3 more inches could be so satisfying. 

"No, It Really Is You"

Recent conversations have brought this subject up many times. Breakups suck, no matter who does the breaking. Sometimes things just don't work out, and no matter how hard you try, they may never work out. Someone in the partnership then has to grow a pair and do the breaking; the other one knows it's going to happen but lives right on the fence of denial. What a feeling, right?

"Ugh y u so sassy!?"

The thing that gets me the most is that people then get embarrassed if they cry about a breakup. No one wants to feel sad about losing someone and possibly losing the friends they met through that person. The feeling of loss is one of the worst feelings we can experience. But people need to realize that they should be proud of being able to express those feelings. It's okay to call someone and say, "Holy fuck people come and meet me somewhere because this just happened and I'm crying and a bubblering mess and it's really gross because holy fuck I'm crying!" And at that moment, all you need is a huge hug from a friend who doesn't tell you that you look so gross because you cried so much. That hug that a friend gives you is the most important hug that you'll get, because you know you're truly loved by people when when you look like a gross mess.

You might as well do this so you don't scare people.

Most importantly, people should be happy that they allow to let themselves feel like that. The fact that we make ourselves vulnerable enough to express those feelings and to allow to feel the love, happiness, rejection, and sorrow is an amazing thing. At that point, you realize that, even though you feel terribly sad, you have enough mental stability to express that sorrow, to let the rejection hurt, and to become vulnerable in front of your friends and accept their emotional support.

In time (max of 3 days with me), you get over it, keep hanging out with friends, and party like you're 21-years old again (not really, since bed time is 10pm... gods I'm getting old). And then it happens... they text you again. It's like they have a radar or something. The moment you stop thinking of them, BAM! They text you. It doesn't matter what the text is about; they just text you. Some people go into a spiral of depression, others go into a rage, others (like me) roll their eyes and don't respond. Ever. See me on the street and say hi? No response. See me at a bike event and try to chat it up? No response. Try to be "friends"? Nope.



Nope. Nope nope nopenopenope.

"No. No, no, nonononononono."

Sometimes you have to do that. You don't have to be friends with an ex. Why? What's the point? They're an ex for a reason. We don't always keep platonic friendships. If someone is an asshat, you let that asshat go.

And then you'll find yourself being picky. No one is good enough to see those feels you felt before. Until you meet someone who seems like an awesome friend. You can joke, you can hang out, give each other a hard time, flirt, and so on. You found a weird partner in crime. Let's face it, you feel like you hit the jackpot because you're most likely fucking weird.

Or, you can just get this,

From personal experience, I'll tell you that the weirdness is the better option. The weirdo who can quote movies with you, laugh at stupid jokes, and sit in silence with you is very worth it. But whatever pings your pong. Just remember to never put your happiness in the back burner.

So Far in the Off Season

I haven't really had much to write about. My race season is over, so there are no reports for me to write. I've been working the Sac CX races, which have been going well and Rodeo 'Cross has started. It's been fun. I got the sickness from hell and was down for two weeks. In fact, the first five days of this illness were horrible. I was bed ridden. If I attempted to get up, my vision would black out. This made for trips to the bathroom a lot of fun, especially in the middle of the night.

The illness has mostly gone away. I have an annoying cough that won't leave me alone, but I've been able to ride my bike. Very little efforts cause a lot of pain. That sucks. I never knew my lungs could actually get sore. Either way, after two weeks of no riding at all, I was happy to be back on the bike, even if it's extremely slow and pathetic.

See how happy I look?

Aside from being sick, I've been mountain biking a lot more. Enough so that I actually see an improvement in my skills and don't crash every 20 feet.

I've also been adequately hydrating before a ride, 

During a ride,

And after a ride,

I've also carved pumpkins for the first time in my life and made myself look creepy as fuck for Halloween, which we all celebrated at Rodeo Cross since Halloween fell on a Wednesday this year.

I was the only over-dressed female that night.

I've also been working a lot by teaching lessons and riding horses. My horse is doing well, though this whole roller coaster of a temperature we've been having has been making his arthritis act up. That's okay, though; it's easily fixable with nice and steady exercise. I've also been planning a lot for my future. If the "master plan" doesn't work, I'm going for the "not so master plan but it'll still take me to my goal" plan. I'll talk about the Master Plan once I know if it's going to work out. For now, I'm going to leave you in suspense. 

I'm not sure why he has that look...

I've been meeting awesome people.

                                                   

Work and fun has been at a happy balance right now. So hooray. It'll be more fun when I'm over-scheduled again, but for now I'll enjoy having the fun. 

I'm now a CAT 3 road racer. Go me!

And that's that. Work, training, work, and fun have been my life right now. We'll see what these next few weeks bring. Send me the positive Master Plan vibes; I'll need 'em! I'll be sure to actually update more often.

Placer Valley Grand Prix: The End of the Season

Let's be real. We all want to win races. We all want to do some epic shit when we're racing, too. Breaking away, lapping the field, all of that awesome stuff. I've gotten honest with myself and realized that I'm not a rider to do such epic shit. Let's face it, I have more concussions than a professional football player thanks to breaking out horses, I'll most likely need hip replacement at 35 (again, thanks to horses), and I learned how to ride a bike at 21-years old. I'm not an extraordinary rider and to be more truthful, I'm usually the domestique. I like to ride bikes, and I'm happy doing so. Still... a person can dream of doing some epic shit during a race, right?

Scott working on my bike.

The last crit of the season was hosted by LeadOut Racing. It was a challenging and technical course. Everything I love, basically. This was definitely my last crit this year. I'm burnt out. I've been racing since January and my body is telling me to go to hell.

I rode the Women's 4 with Tamara. We were both nervous. I don't know why I've been getting nervous before crits. I guess I still have the crash in my head, especially on this course; some of those corners were effin' tricky. Also, my bike was having issues with shifting again, but Scott from The Hub was my pre-race hero and got me dialed in. Thanks, Scott! You're awesome! Either way, it was my last race, so it was going to be a fun one. But not only was it the last race, it was the first year my team put on this crit, so dude, have fun with it!

We didn't have many women signed up. Four women had signed up. More walk-ups came and we eventually ended up with nine. Okay, cool, at least we have some sort of race. We lined up, Tamara and I were goofing off because it's racing and it's fucking fun, okay? People who are too serious about this, chill out and have fun. Anyway, we asked the official if we were going to get a neutral lap. He said no. Er, everyone else has had a neutral lap, and with this course, we most likely need one. So, we were expecting to not have a neutral lap. When he blew the whistle, we ended up following the chase car into a neutral lap. Okay, I'm glad everyone is communicating well.

I'm glad we did the neutral lap, because I almost missed a turn. Some of the turns were sharp and sketchy... this was going to be a fun last crit.

The race started. My dumbass self got to the front again. After a lap, I decided to fall back a couple of places to get a wheel. Prime lap. A girl popped her tire and nearly crashed. I dodged her, caught back up to Team Revolutions, who led me out to the prime. I'M $50 RICHER, BABY! I sat back up to get back into the group, looked back, and realized, "Oh shit. I have a gap." That's when I heard past advice from Marissa Axell: the best time to do a break away is after a prime. You're ahead, if you have the legs, do it. Then I remember my coach saying to take the risk, all or nothing, just do it. Okay. I took off.

I kept going, just trying to get a big gap from the field. Bob Langley was marshaling one of the corners and after about 10 minutes into my break, I yelled at him, "Hey asshole, you better start yelling at me because I'm getting tired." And he did. Thanks for being an asshole, Bob! My teammates kept telling me my gaps. At one point, I had a 30 second gap, then an Early Bird chick brought it down to 11 seconds, but gave up. After that, I guess the pack gave up or something, and I kept gaining time on them. At one point,  I thought, "Shit, Tamara, block them for me!" Little did I know that she was definitely playing those games with the pack. How awesome is she?


Each lap I'd get times, teammates yelling at me, Matt yelling, "Hey Kasea, quit sucking!" Haha love it. I kept getting 40 seconds, a minute. What? A minute, really? I heard Scarlet, Asa, Frank, Brook, and a bunch of my friends kept cheering me on. I was deep in the pain cave. People were standing up to see this epic break away. Dude! How awesome. At one point I saw people timing me with their phones. I'm usually the person on the sidelines doing that! I've never had that happen.

Hugging the best teammate in the podium!

Three laps to go, and I just kept digging, because I was afraid that the pack would catch me. So I kept going. Two laps to go and I dug even deeper. On the final lap, I didn't let off my speed, but I heard Kevin say, "You have a minute-thirty on them!" I went through the maze type turns that the course had, entered the race way once again, and enjoyed the moment. That was it. I was able to win a race in an epic fashion. I never thought I would be able to pull off a breakaway like that. Tamara did a freaking amazing job at blocking the other girls.

Tamara had asked me how she could help me before the race. I told her if she could just lead me out to the sprint that it would be great, but she didn't have to do it. She said she would try. It's only her fourth crit so she's still learning tactics. We didn't plan for a breakaway and we didn't plan for her to block, but she executed everything perfectly. It felt awesome having a teammate work for me.

I saw the sprint, where Tamara did awesome, and then we hung out with friends after the race. Talked to my coach about it, and he was proud of me. I wouldn't have improved in my skill or fitness without him. He has witnessed my racing career since day one, was the one who taught me how to corner, be comfortable in a pack, etc. I'm lucky to have the best coach around. He's too humble to admit it, but we all know it's true. Actually, if it weren't for him, I'm pretty sure I'd still be severely injured and not able to ride a bike. I'm dumb like that.

The podium was great. Finally, I was able to step on the top step at a crit! The podium boy didn't do his job. It was disappointing to the point where I figure I should just call Chuck Hutcheson to be the podium boy. You know you had a pretty disappointing podium boy when you consider Chuck.

My moment!

So thanks, guys. This was a victory I never thought I would be able to pull off. Thanks to Bob for being an asshole and yelling at me throughout the race, all of my teammates for encouraging me and telling me the gap times, Scott for helping me with my bike before the race, Tamara for being the teammate of the year, and my coach for making me into a better rider. You gotta give my coach a lot of kudos, guys. He was able to teach me how to ride a bike in a race and let's face it, I suck at not falling. Also, big thanks to John Novikoff for organizing the race!




Since it was a LeadOut race, we stayed all day. I saw Mary Maroon win her race as well and shared a "recovery" drink with her. It was so strong, that I definitely forgot about the pain in my legs. Saw Chuck Hutcheson sort of win his race. After that podium, we cleaned up and I got distracted by a cowboy. I wish I had taken a picture of that. Finished the P/1/2 podium, cleaned up a bit, then went to Sam Horne's with Asa, Frank, my coach, his wife, and other teammates to celebrate a good season, a good race, and a possible new chapter in my life.



200 watt average power? I'll take it!


Epic shit, man. A ten-lap solo breakaway for a win and a one minute thirty second gap from the pack... That's definitely how a season should end.

Tough Mudder Tahoe (Big Mudder)

I've never had a desire to participate in a Tough Mudder. Everything about it is horrible. The distance, the obstacles, and the complete mental and physical challenge is brutal. Watching the videos is terrifying. One of my friends was going up to Tahoe and wanted company on the drive, so I said that I would go and watch the race. Let's face it, I can't just watch. Two of the team members had to bail out, so I had a free ticket in. I said, "Fuck it, I'm in."

I said this 3 days before the actual event.









I've never done anything remotely close to a Tough Mudder. I knew I had the cardio for it, but the strength for all of the obstacles? Uhhh, especially my upper body strength ('sup, I'm a cyclist), is shitty. I mean, really shitty. This was a 10K run (lol, more on that later). Let's keep in mind that since my polo horse accident, I've done one trail half marathon and the most I've ran since is 7 effin' miles. That's it. Shall we remember what my hip looked like after that accident?

The night after the accident.

Okay, so we head up to Truckee at 6 am. Jill and her brother are already up there, so we were to meet up with them at Northstar. Too bad that when we were about 10 minutes from the place, we got a text that said that the parking lot was 95% full. We call Jill and we decide to meet at Alpine where they have shuttles for the Tough Mudder. We meet there and we get on the bus. On the buss ride, I said, "It's only a 10K run. It'll be tough but not so bad, right?"

"Uhhh... it's not a 10K," Said Jill. "It's like, a 20K."

Oh fuck! I was doing the Big Mudder. I told Tamara that I hated her and that I'm going to suck at this because I haven't run that much!!! Look at my hip! Whatever, no turning back now, so I just sucked it up. As we got closer, I said, "I'm going to cuss like a drunken... drunk." We got to Northstar, registered, and went to the start line. Everything was really organized and freakin' awesome. Got a motivational talk, got effin' pumped, and we started the event. Let's also remind everyone that I'm a total chicken shit and I hate water, heights, and tight spaces. This is important. 

Before we started Tough Mudder.

 We start a long hike up the mountain. The hike turned out to be 6 miles up the mountain then 6 miles down, 20 obstacles. We ran what was reasonable to run and walked the super steep stuff. The first obstacle was crawling under barbed wire. This was intimidating, but we got through it. That set the mood. We were stoked, pumped, hyper. We were going to do this. One down, nineteen more to go. 

The next obstacle involved water. We were warned that if we couldn't swim to go around the obstacle. I can swim, I just freakin' hate water. Remember. I'm a chicken shit.


Not only is this obstacle water, we have to climb up a ledge and then jump into the water. What? Oh, crap. I climbed up. Jill and I were going together. I knew as I got to the ledge that if I hesitated once, it was over for me. The officer counted: Three, Two, One and down I went. And it was terrifying. We fell into ice cold water and I was not happy. I swam to the end, got out, and was shaking not just from the cold, but from the fact that I just did that. Two fears in one. No hesitation. Just go. Fuck you, fears.

We kept going up the mountain and some stuff was getting pretty steep. We get to other obstacles, not bad. Then we get to the "Artic Enema." We jumped into ICE. Had to go down a foot and a half in ice to get to the other side under a board, and jump back out. As I was trying to jump back out, I couldn't. My hip seized up. Jill was also having trouble getting out, so Tamara grabbed her. I was trying but failing at getting out, so Larry grabbed my right leg and pulled it out, which gave me enough leverage to get out of that ice. I got down the ledge and was seized up. I started to jump up and down, walked with a huge limp, then started to jog. 5 minutes and I was able to jog to the next obstacle. Team work at its finest there.

Each obstacle was getting more and more challenging. Not only were we hiking up a mountain, we were tested more and more on each challenge. We went through tubes that were half filled with water (hello, fear of tight spaces and water), we went through trenches which were freakin pitch black (ugh ugh ugh), we went through walls. Oh, the walls. So challenging and while some people were able to climb them on their own, we (except Larry), needed help. So Larry and another amazingly strong (and good looking) guy helped us up. Team work. It all worked like that. Complete strangers were helping each other as if we've known each other for years. We didn't care. We were going to get through this one way or another!

The scariest one for me was probably the "Spider's Web." We had to climb up a net, go over it, then climb back down. I hate doing that. I was talking to Tamara and I said, "Oh man, I don't know if I have the upper body strength to do this."
"Um, excuse me, ma'am. May I interrupt you?" A gentleman standing next to us said to me. Oh yeah, total military dude and he was so polite about interrupting us! "It's not your upper body, it's your lower body. Also, grab the vertical ropes; the horizontal ones give too much slack. You can do this!" Alright, Polite Dude, I'm gonna try.

I climbed up and I started to freak out. I got to the top and I said, "I can't do it." Tamara said I could. I started to freak out more. So people cheered me on. One guy climbing next to me saw I was freaking out and he said, "Hey! Kasea! I'm Chris. Let's do this! You can do it!" So I got over it. I climbed down. People congratulated me. I was in near tears. There was another fear conquered that day. I was shaking, I was scared, but I was really damn proud. Thanks to Polite Dude and Chris (whomever you guys are) for cheering and helping me like that!

More challenges. At this point we were going down the mountain. My hip was pissed off but whatever. I was so close to the end. We could hear the finish line. Two more obstacles. Only two more. So we went to them, we attempted, some of us couldn't complete them, some of us could. All in all, it was fucking awesome. 

I'm glad I did this. I didn't know I had it in me to run 12 miles and do 20 obstacles, some of which terrified me. The amount of team work we had, within our own team and with strangers was amazing. It gives me the chills just to think about it. Everyone should experience this at least once. I amazed myself. I never knew that I would be willing to put my body and my mind through such a challenge. While the cardio didn't affect me at all, it was all of the obstacles and the mental strain, having to conquer my fears, and actually going through all of the pain to conquer them that was the most tiring. I never knew that I would ever be able to complete something like this. I never trained for this, I just decided three days before the event that I would participate in this event, an event for an awesome cause. I just went for it, pretty blind as to what challenges I was going to face. I don't think people truly understand how proud I am. I conquered what I was afraid of, and as of right now, this is the proudest and best accomplishment I've had in my athletic career. This is nothing short of amazing to me. 

What's the aftermath of the event? Check these pictures out!

Definitely getting new shoes!

These are some of the bruises on my arm.

I know, my bruises compliment my horsey boxers well.

BAM! Trophies.

So, thanks, Tough Mudder, for challenging me, for helping me conquer so many fears in 12 miles, and for doing this for a great cause. I know I said I would never do this again, but Tough Mudder 2013 may be in my training plan... Miss Kay is going to get through this even stronger next time!

Dunnigan, Giro Di San Francisco, and Burning Out

I figured I should post something about my past few races or whatever. To say the least, I'm burnt out. At one point I didn't even want to ride my bike. In fact, I wanted it to go play in traffic. I told this to my coach and he gave me two weeks off the bike. I ran and went to the gym so I didn't become a huge fat kid.

I raced Dunnigan Hills 6 days after my crash at Fast and Furious. Was it smart? No. But I wanted to get that first race post-crash out of the way. The race was fine, nothing really exciting happened, until I couldn't use my left foot at 10 miles to go. I was basically pedaling with just one leg. I couldn't put any weight on it and at one point I thought that I had gotten a stress fracture. I stayed with the group, but I didn't sprint. Asa helped me hobble back to the truck and we left. I looked at the results and it said I DNP, to which I e-mailed the promoter and asked about the mistake. I didn't hear back from them for a week, when all of a sudden I get an e-mail from the chief official, telling me that I got 9th place. Cool. They fixed it. Not bad for only pedaling with one leg and not sprinting, eh?

Giro Di San Francisco:

Photo by Alex Chiu. 

 The Giro... oh man. I was a nervous wreck for that race. This was the first post-crash crit, and it's a decently technical course with a hill. I didn't sleep well at all the night before the race. A friend was nice enough to call me and give me some tips on the race, which calmed me down some, but I was still nervous. 

We got up at 4 freakin' AM and headed to the race. That was awesome. Especially since I didn't get much sleep because I was freaking out and because one of the cats loves to open and slam cupboard doors. Whatever, cat. I also had another cat decide that my butt was really comfortable so she slept on it. Awesome. I know I have a big ass but dude. Oh well. 

Anyway, we got to the race after two and a half hours of being in the truck. We registered, changed, warmed up, etc. I went for a few warm up laps and my bike was shifting very poorly. Crap. Where's that bike mechanic I need to start dating? 10 minutes before the race and I realized that my cable was too effin' tight to adjust. Okay. Frank helped me a bit and we got it as good as it was going to get before the race. Oh well. I did a few laps and got used to that shitty shifting and went on with the race. 

Photo by Alex Chiu. 

The hill in this course wasn't bad at all. It's the kind of hill that I'm able to power up. The difference this time? I'm now on a standard crank instead of my compact. I'm really liking the standard, but sometimes I just wish I had that little extra give when I'm climbing a tough hill.

I was pretty cautious in the turns. I didn't take many risks as I usually do because I was pretty nervous. I also had just ended that two-week break from the bike, so I was getting back into the swing of things. I sprinted for a prime and got it, which was pretty cool. Tamara also got a prime as did Asa. So we all went home with stuff. I like stuff.

The race was uneventful, really. I was just nervous, Tamara was super strong, etc. That was her third crit ever so it was awesome to see her race so strong.

Photo by Alex Chiu. 

Last lap and I'm ready for the race to be over. I got a bit more comfortable with my cornering but I always had that doubt; I didn't want to crash again. It amazes me at how nervous I was. I didn't think that the crash had affected me so much, but it did, and while I know it's normal, it's very frustrating.

I was in the back on the last lap but got to the front in on the back side of the course. I lost too much energy on the last two corners because I didn't pedal through, mostly because I was being extremely reserved in the turns. I sprinted and crossed the line in 7th place. So, I got a prime and top 10 on my first post-crash crit. I wasn't too upset about that.

Photo by Alex Chiu. 

 I'll eventually get over the cornering. I'm getting a bit more comfortable. My next and last race of the season is going to be the the Placer Valley Grand Prix, being hosted by LeadOut Racing. Come out, race, heckle, and enjoy the beer garden!

I won't lie; I'm looking forward to an off season.