NCNCA Master Road Race Championship (Diamond Valley)

MEA at the feed zone starting lap 3

7/26/08
Cat: Women 55+
Field: 6
Place: 4th
Mates: Phyllis Olrich and Linda Elgart

First, congratulations to all my fellow Webcor Alto Velo team mates for the awesome wins at the district RR and crit. Now let me share my personal recipe for disaster: Take one part smoke, mix thoroughly with altitude, simmer for hours at 90 degrees, add ferocious headwinds, and top it off with two neuromas until you can’t stand the pain. A race to remember for all the wrong reasons . . . . (Warning: You may not want to read further.)
The district championship road race was held in Markleeville, California in a valley south of South Lake Tahoe. Rich and I drove out Friday evening, spent the night in Folsom and then drove the rest of the way Sat. morning arriving at around 8:45 only to learn that the start of the race would be delayed. Apparently, the CHP thought the race was the next day. So our combined group (Women 45-49, 50-54, and 55+) took off shortly after noon instead of 11:05. In the mean time, it was getting quite hot. The good news is that the W 55+ were wise enough to negotiate three laps instead of four. Phyllis and I discussed strategy to head off contender Laura Lindgren but “Plan A” fell apart on the first climb. Phyllis stuck on Laura’s wheel and all I could do was watch them pull away. I pacelined with a group that included 55+ Narda through the climbs on lap 2. That’s when the feet started to go bad. I was tempted to quit after the second lap, but I remembered the words of Johann Bruyneel in his latest book (We Might As Well Win) that as long as you are still on your bike, you have a chance. So I grabbed a fresh water bottle at the feed zone (thanks!) and kept pedaling as best I could. The headwind after the second climb made the rest of the race torture on my feet. I couldn’t put any pressure on the ball of my feet, so I just spun in a low gear to the finish. I immediately laid my bike down, ripped off my shoes and socks and poured water on my feet (with some sobs of disappointment/delirium). A pitiful sight to behold. I can’t believe that I finished ahead of the two other 55+ women. Both Rich and I suffered through the next day with irritated bronchi from the smoke – some folks must have lungs of steel!! It was great to be back cycling Sunday on the Peninsula with the fogbank as a back drop.

Russian Training Ride - Sunday, July 20, 2008

RFA and I met the group at 9 AM at Canada/92. It was windy, misty and chilly - temp in the 50's. Dmitrij is in Belarus so Vlad drove the support van. By the time we got to Edgewood, the sun was out and we shed our leg warmers, arm warmers, headband and vest. We rode up 84 and continued out 84 to San Gregorio. I had a good climb up 84; regroup and put on the outwear for the descent - back into the chilly mist. Good paceline to San Gregorio - hard paceline switching every 20 seconds on the way back up 84. The winds on Canada were 20 mph+ - icing on the cake after a hard ride. Stats: 55 miles, average speed 16.9 mph; 4782 feet climbing. Quick shower, slipped into the Skins, lunch, nap and off to Equinox for a steam, shower, stretching and foam rollers. Legs ache a bit and little stiff - but a great weekend.

Beat the Clock Time Trial Report - Sat. July 19, 2008

Photos: RFA at the start and MEA after the finish. The weather was chilly (low 50's at the start) and foggy. Going out north on Canada is was misty - had to get out of the full TT position momentarily to wipe off the glasses to see. Then brief moment of sunshine at the turnaround at 92/Canada. There was a mild cross wind from the west. RFA went off at 7:04 and my start time was 7:38, so I had plenty of time to warm up on the trainer. The times were slower overall today compared to June 21 Beat the Clock TT due to the damp air. For the June 21 TT, the weather was warm, dry and no wind and a day for personal bests (mine was 26:30). I felt strong and paced myself well. I finished in 26:51 (4th in a field of 11 women). I passed no one and no one passed me. My one-minute "rabbit" was a woman who is about one minute faster than me, so there was really no contest. Rode with my Easton tubulars - RFA had the tri-spoke and the disk.

Spring Hill Road Race - July 13, 2008

Update: August 1, 2008. The results are posted, but no results for me! I would have been 11/16 - pretty pathetic. So I am not going to bother to inquire or petition the results. I am happy not being on the record for this race.
Still no results posted for this race - I don't know why I should care at this point. I guess I what to know to what degree I sucked. I was "on the fence" whether to do this race. But I decided to do it as a training ride for the district road race on July 26. The weather looked pleasant, no smoke from the wild fires in Northern California, and Dmitrij (coach) told me there would not be a group training ride that weekend. I needed a good hard ride and this seemed to fit the bill. Moreover, my team mate and competitor (P) for the district championship would be there. The race was in Petaluma, CA in Marin County - 44 miles (actually 45 miles); 2 laps with a mix of hills and flats; approx. 1000 feet of climbing per lap. I raced with the W4 who were supposed to start with the W3. My friend P is a Cat 3 and I was looking forward to racing the first two laps with her (the W Cat 3s had to do 3 laps). But at the last minute, the W Cat 3s and the W Cat 4s raced separately. Also, the men's 45+ started ahead of us (a last minute change). So although I had a fairly good warm up on the trainer, I was pretty cold at the start after a good 15 minute delay. The race started out with a climb and the W Cat 4s attacked strong - I redlined and knew I couldn't sustain that pace - my engine was just not warmed up. I dropped back and was shortly joined by two Dolce Vita women. We road the first lap together sharing the work and then picked up a Colavita woman who dropped from the front. She said the front peloton was pretty splintered. So all was going well, descending on lap 2. One of the Dolce Vita woman passed me but I wasn't concerned because her team mate was behind me - I assumed we would regroup at the end of the descent and continue working together. I was surprised when she took off with the Colavita woman and it was all over. Don't know what happened to the other Dolce Vita woman. So I time trialed in the drops the rest of the way - not fun. The wind was wicked. I passed two Cat 3 women who started at least 10 minutes ahead of me but that was of little consolation. Also passed some men from the 45+ group. So I finished and was surprised to see P at the parking lot. She dropped out because she ran out of water and there was no neutral support. The other Cat 3 woman I passed dropped out. Although this was definitely not a priority race for me, I wanted to finish in the top 5. So I was really bummed out, but at least I finished and got some good training in. This was RFA's first road race; he raced with the men's 55+ and stayed with the pack until he hit a bad pothole and his handlebars slipped down (catapulting his water bottle in the process). He finished the first lap but that was it - too bad. Boy, did my butt hurt for a few days from riding in the drops - guess I really got my butt kicked.

Bike Forum Coastal Tandem Ride - July 6, 2008

There was not a Five Rings training ride this weekend because both Dmitrij and Vladimir are in Belarus for holiday. So I agreed to do the what was billed as the Bike Forum tandem and wheelsucker ride on our tandem. And our good tandem friends were also doing it . . . . There were about 40 people and two different routes - easy and hard. We did the 70 mile "Wild Ride" which included two other strong tandem teams. We started in Half Moon Bay at 9:30 AM and the weather was foggy and chilly (no surprise). We started out Highway 1 with a tailwind at a blistering pace. RFA and I would have preferred some warmup. By the time we reached the big climb up Haskin's Hill it was quite hot. We climb Haskin's in the opposite direction on the singles - today was tough since alot of energy had already been spent. We stopped in Pescadero for a rest stop/bio break/refueling. We faced a strong headwind on the way back kept a strong paceline. Here are the Wild Ride stats from my Garmin corrected by Ascent software.66.5 miles, 17.9 average mph (the timer was running at one regroup such that average speed is understated) and climbing 4336 feet. The average speed per our tandem friend's computer was 18.3 mph.

Happy 4th of July

Today RFA and I did a tempo training ride - 44 miles. Focus on cadence and speed climbing on the hills. Stopped at Peet's in Los Altos Hills for coffee and met up with some Webcor folks. Beautiful day - 70's and sunny. Really fast climb up Alpine - close to max effort at the top. Training mission accomplished. Decided to do the Spring Hill Road Race in Petaluma next weekend as a training race for the Diamond Valley RR on July 26.

Time Trial practice - July 3, 2008

Both Dmitrij and Vladimir (our Russian coaches) are on holiday so we are on our own for tonight. RFA and I took the TT bikes out for about 50 minutes of TT training on Canada Road after work. The weather was nice but there was more wind than I would have liked. Pushed it hard on the rollers after the turnaround. Went to Equinox afterwards for a chest and lats workout, situps. stretching, foam rollers and steam and shower.

Climb Up San Bruno Mountain - July 2, 2008

Over my lunck break I road from my office in South San Francisco up San Bruno Mountain. After a 20 minute warm up, I climbed the 3.5 miles up the mountain up to the radio towers. The climbs starts with a 7-8 percent grade up Guadalupe Canyon Road and a turn into San Bruno Park, and up Radio Road with narrow switchbacks and grades up to 10%. It was not the greatest day to do this ride because the winds were strong and the top of the mountain was in a cold dense fog. The good news is that I had a nice tailwind on the steep switchbacks and got blown up to the top. I didn't have much of a heart rate and I didn't have much power. Last night at the cycling gym took it out of me. We did simulated road racing (long intervals with high cadence and resistance).