22 March 2013 – Time Trial – 4.25 miles (6.84km) uphill
Start time- 12:08
Results: 20:07 , 42nd (of 77)

Yesterday evening I rode the course which I am glad, to know what to expect, but not sure if it put some unneccessary fatigue in my quads for today.  I started off feeling tight and it never let up.  And 4.25 miles all out  uphill feeling tight is not so comfortable.  It didnt help that I gotpassed in the first mile by a small rider that made the uphill seem like it was only up for ME.  I did find out after at least that she was the Time Trial winner.  Still didnt help my confidence as I had to continue pushing up this mountain after just being left in the dust, and what are the chances that I am put in the spot RIGHT infront of the uphill TT champ of the universe.
Anyway, I gritted my teeth and gave it my all even not feeling 100%.  but with only 1min between 40th and 20th place thats not much of a time gap.
Tomorrow is a new day and the Road Race.  It should be challenging and fun.

The girls I traveled with and went through this experience with

23 March 2013 – Road Race – 56 miles (8 laps)
Start Time- 10:10am
Results: 53rd, not good but still in the race with no major injury

One word- Crash
   Today I went into the race positive, feeling good, and wanting to work hard.  But that just wasn’t in the cards.  On the first lap we were all in a big group going through the shady park side of the course just before the reservoir.  The road was pretty wide, but on the right side near the dirt there were bumps in the road and cracks from tree roots.

   All of a sudden I hear a girl scream not too far in front of me, see her swerve right, then left and into the rider next to her.  Then I hear like a DEATH SCREAM…. Before I know it there are two bikes overlapped right in front of me and no where to go.  I couldn’t go around because the rider in front of me was going right and going down also.  So I braced myself and as my bike hit theirs I felt myself falling right and onto the pavement hard.
   Hitting the road is never a good feeling.  It Italian they say you “measured the road” when you fall, a way to put a lighter spin on the brutal fact of cycling risks.
  But with the adrenaline rushing and nothing else going through my head but racing, I jumped up as fast as I could without a second thought.  I put the chain back on my bike, jumped on and went after the couple of riders also with a drive to stay in it.
  Unfortunately, I think with some whiplash and feeling a bit dazed I couldn’t get on as quickly as I would have liked and a gap formed.  After getting things together and moving up to some other riders I ended up with a small pack that had also been victim of the crash.  We worked together the rest of the race to stay within distance of the group, but non of the other girls had effort enough to close the few minute gap that had opened as a result of the fall.  We finished well behind, but also happy that there were no serious injuries and in good enough condition to race again tomorrow.
   Taking count of my injuries after finishing I left the day with some road rash about 2in. across on my hip, a scraped up elbow with some swelling to go with it, and a neck that refuses to let my head turn to the right.  Not bad 😉

24 March 2013 – Criterium – 55 min.
Start Time- 2:00 pm
Results: 29th

   The race started out tough.  Not necessarily because it was fast, but because of all the aches and pains I had in my hips, back, neck and elbow.  Warming up the body to race and put in the bursting efforts of a criterium is not ideal for a post crash day ride.  But reluctantly my legs did start to turn faster and harder and I was able to keep myself in the main part of the pack.
   We rounded the downtown streets of San Dimas for 51 minutes as they sloped up on one side and down on the other to provide just enough challenge and grade change to make it more difficult.  There was a breakaway pack just about 10 minutes in, but with just about 2 laps to go the group managed to bring them back in.
   I worked hard with a lap to go as I found my Kenda teammate just in front of me and I locked onto her wheel.  Feeling good I knew if we moved up I could either give her the help for a sprint finish or go for it myself if the situation worked out.  Unfortunately things weren’t supposed to go AT ALL as desired this weekend.  Just before the 3rd to last turn a girl from another team was dropping back hard and causes us to swerve and me to break.  This caused a gap between myself and my teammate and a chance for other riders to jump in.  I was mad about this pretty good opportunity lost, but as we rounded the last turn and onto the final straight away I gave it my strongest effort and crossed the line probably mid pack.  No spectacular race, or finish… but after a crash and not feeling 100% I couldn’t expect THAT much out of my body today.

Hundreds upon Hundreds of windmills in California on our was back to Arizona

After 7 hours of driving to get home to Tucson, I am happy to back on familiar streets and on the road to recovery from these injuries.  Now its time to get back on the bike and get ready for Battenkill in just under 3 weeks.  Training time!!