Catching up

Madera

Okay...

so Mar. 13-14 weekend was the Madera Stage Race. Saturday morning was the crit that I didn't feel great for but Lauren killed it, winning the final sprint and the two time sprints. 

Later that afternoon was the 10 mile flat TT that I was sooo prepared for. I had looked up past top times, fastest time of people racing this year, how fast I had to average, wind direction, everything. During the TT, I felt AWESOME! The first two legs of the course were tail/cross wind and a cross wind respectively. I was flying, averaging 30 mph while still under threshold: super focused mindset accompanied by great rhythm. I was definitely in it to win it. The third leg had a head/cross wind and I tried to shift into an easier gear but realized my cable had snapped and I was stuck in my 11! It was awful. My pace slowed to like 23 mph on that leg and my legs were burning, having to crank such a big gear. Then on the fourth leg, it was direct head wind with winds of 25 mph winds. It was insane. It took me 7 minutes to do that last leg which was only 1 km! I probably was doing something like 30 rpm. Ridiculous. Anyway, to my total surprise I still wound up getting 4th which put me in 4th in the GC.

Sunday (Mar. 14) was the 67 mile road race. I only had one teammate because the Aus was recovering from a broken wrist but we hurt the peloton like there were 50 of us, attacking like crazy. I had a couple of long, quality attacks but unfortunately no one came with me any of those times. I really figured I had nothing to lose but apparently I did because after the road race, I wound up 6th in the GC. But tell me… how much better is 4^th than 6^th really?

San Dimas (Mar. 19-21)

I think that I just made the largest leap I’m ever going to from the St. Louis local 3/4s scene (strong women who taught me a lot!)  to the Cali racing scene featuring top pro women in the world including HTC-Columbia, Peanut Butter & Co., TIBCO, Webcor, Colavita, etc. At the beginning of March, at Merco stage race, I leaped and managed to make it across but at San Dimas, I didn’t even come close. I’ve realized that since I’ve been out west, that I really need to work on my climbing, and after San Dimas, I have only been reassured. Friday (Mar. 19) was the uphill 3.8 mile time trial (no need for aero gear). I got 72^nd out of 91. 72^nd. The funny thing is that during the TT, I was pleased with the speed that I was averaging (about 10.5 mph on 6-8% grade) so it’s really just that I can’t fathom people going so fast up it. I have huge admiration for those damn billiegoats.

Saturday (Mar. 20) was the 8 lap 7-mile circuit race. The course was hard; the field was ridiculously strong. And I was dropped on the very first lap on the 4 minute climb! Disheartening to say the least. My legs were fried from stage racing every weekend up until. So there it was, my race – Terminated (DNF). Sunday, I cheered on the sidelines as I watched my teammates go by on the L-shaped crit. Way to go Webcor AV Bridge Team! but I did not like being on the sidelines, not racing with them. So what’s the lesson learned? In order to defy gravity, cut off a limb.

Spring Break

I went to Boulder this past week during my spring break. It was a nice break from racing, just riding for hours in the beautiful mountains. One day, I went to Boulder Indoor Cycling, where there is a 125m track angled at 45 degrees. Zack taught me how to ride the track. After about thirty minutes of being scared shitless, I was in the sprinter’s lane rippin’ it up (sorta…). Mom laughed at me when I told her I wanted a track bike L. I’m still going to work on that but after it’s been more than two weeks since I had to get my road crash replacement.

Looking to what the future brings… (to be continued)

Merco Cycling Classic

This past weekend, my team and I went to Merced, CA for the Merced Stage Race. Ange, our token Aussie, came for support since she broke her wrist and is out for a few weekends of racing. Thankfully, the team opted out of doing the TTT on Friday due to school, work, and a very jetlagged Aus. So instead we headed out Saturday bright and early. On Saturday afternoon, we had a 6-corner, flat crit in the “heart” (if you can call it that) of Merced. HTC-Columbia was there, getting ready for Redlands, along with the other top dogs: TIBCO, Peanut Butter and Co, and Webcor. The race was fast, but not as excruciating as I had expected. In the 40 lap criterium, I attacked with 25 laps to go, not afraid to put my nose in the wind, and to see what kind of “damage” I could do. Not much. I was off the front for like half a lap and then was brought back by Evelyn Stevens (HTC-Columbia).

"Damage" done, pic taken after 1/2 lap before being completely reeled in
I recovered well after that attack and so I decided to go for a prime at about lap 15. I was 2^nd to the prime, outsprinted by TIBCO’s Megan Guarnier. After that, I led at the front for half a lap and then slowly moved back. After this dig, it was harder to recover, feeling totally gassed. I kept good position, top third of the pelaton for the rest of the time. There was massive carnage with 3 laps to go, completely stopping the field for like 15-20 minutes. We were off again, starting at 5 laps to go. It was really hard to go full gas again after stopping for so long. I wound up finishing top 20, still in the money, which was pretty cool in an 80-person field of the top women in the country and world.

Sunday was a 116 km rolling road race consisting of 3 loops. It was piled high with major attacks, especially from the Webcor pro women. HTC-Columbia’s Ina Teutenberg had the longest attack, solo, for like 50 km. That woman amazes me how strong she is, still rounding out to win the sprint at the end of the day.

The plan for the race was to make sure that a Webcor jersey, be it the Pro or development squad, was a part of every break that went off just in case it became “the” break. I had really good position most of the time, staying up at the front. I was feeling great. However, within the last 1.5 km, I heard someone behind me crash which I was glad to not be apart of but then, unexpectedly, my bike stopped moving, but I didn’t. I hit the pavement hard at like 28 mph on my back and head. It happened really slowly but then all of a sudden, I was on the ground and couldn’t get detached from my bike. The motorcycle sag vehicle stopped and helped me unclip and asked if I needed an ambulance which I declined. I rode the last 1.5 km at like 8 mph back to the Start/Finish line, heading straight for First Aid. The paramedics looked at my elbow and were really concerned by the huge chunk of flesh missing, that’s really deep (like ¾ of an inch). I started back on my bike to go to our car but my teammate pointed out that the seat stay is broken straight through. Then reality hit me. I put my sunglasses on my face to cover my pouting, so I’d look tougher and more badass, but inside I was in full panic mode. (I’m a 54 cm frame… J)

Anyway, I resisted at all costs having to go to Urgent Care but I didn’t have a choice. I went and got x-rays of my wrist and elbow. Last night, the nurse practitioner told me that my wrist was fractured and I was seriously pissed. Also, she told me that they would normally stitch up a wound as deep as mine, but since it’s a chunk actually missing, not just a deep cut, it couldn’t be sewn. So now, I just have a to cover it and wait like a month for skin to grow back over. Good news: this morning, I got a very welcomed call from the doctor who said that my wrist was actually not fractured, just badly sprained. Now, my neck and back are killing me so off to pop some Aleve.

Hoping for some good results at Madera…

Tiggetyboo!

Maura