Proud Owner of Cervelo P3C Track Bike

I rode my friend's Cervelo P3C track bike to victory in the 2K pursuit Masters National Track Championship a couple weeks ago. I am committed to track racing (Worlds next year in Sydney??) and bought the same frame. Cupertino Bike Shop had a small (51 cm) in stock and had a special where $300 of the sales price is donated to the local Hellyer Velodrome in San Jose, CA. We are having Gebhard at Cyclepath San Mateo built it up. I am happy to be part of the Cervelo family! More photos to follow.

Webcor Rider of the Month

Last night was the monthly Alto Velo (AV) WebCor racing club meeting in Mountainview, CA. RFA and I met a team mate who is the track guru to get some advice on track bikes and components at a local cafe before the meeting and then walked over. The AV president awarded the race reimbursements and I received $74.00 for winning Esparto time trial and the National Masters Track 2K pursuit. Very cool. Every month a male and female "rider of the month" award is bestowed. And, yes, my "fairy tale" of winning the track National Championship with a sub-3 minute time on a borrowed track bike just two weeks after my first time on a Velodrome on a TT bike at Beat-the-Clock gained me the honor. And an honor it was! The AV WebCor racing club has over 400 members and many many extremely talented cyclists. This meant a lot to me to be acknowledged by my peers. I won a gift certificate for Voler leg warmers (I need them!), a case of PowerGels and a huge jar of electrolyte replacement powder.

Mt. Tam Hill Climb Pre-Ride Sept. 14, 2008

RFA and I are signed up to do the Mt. Tam Hill Climb on Sept. 27. The climb is 12.5 miles with about 2000 feet of climbing. We don't do much riding in Marin and have never climbed Mt. Tam. We wanted to do a reconnaisance ride in advance of the race and met up with our friend Geoff who would lead the way. The drive on Highway 1 from Sausalito to Stinson Beach (the start of the race) was winding and spectacular but no bike lanes. The weather was in the high 50's but only a light overcast - no dense fog. This was our first time to Stinson Beach since we moved here 2 1/2 years ago. It would be a tough commute to South San Francisco (where I work). The first leg was a flat 4 1/2 miles along the lagoon and Geoff led a strong pace - we were going over 20 miles an hour with a tailwind and I was just sitting back in the draft - sweet. We turned right to Bolinas-Fairfax Road. We stopped to take off our windvest and arm warmers before the climb. Since we stopped, I had to walk my bike over the cattle grate and am not looking foward to riding over this on race day. I took this next leg pretty easy - there were some steep parts exceeding 10% grade but some gentle grades to allow for recovery. I had a close call with a skateboarder who came careening right at me - I think he sort of lost it after that - he went off the road but was OK. Total elevation gain along this section is about 1500 ft. Next the Seven Sisters - we had to go through a wooded area with wet pavement and wet leaves - another thing to watch out for on race day. Took the Seven Sisters at an easy pace and finished in about 1:06. My goal on race day is 55 minutes. The ride down was uneventful; going down Bolinas-Fairfax was bumpy and my hands were sore from braking. The three of us had a nice lunch in the Stinson Beach picnic area.

Met Max Testa and Eric Heiden Today

RFA and I cycled to Peet's in Los Altos (CA) today and decided to cycle with some Webcor teammates to Bicycle Outfitter where Max Testa and Eric Heiden were doing a book signing. Their new book is Faster Better Stronger. There were quite a few Webcor and Protech cyclists there. We bought the book and had Max and Eric autograph it. Max was very congenial and was very interested in everyone's cycling stories and successes. Both Eric and Max looked very fit! I even learned some Italian - at the start of a race in Italy the racers don't wish each other "good luck" but say "In bocca al lupo" which literally means "in the mouth of the wolf." The appropriate response is "crepi." (This is a fast way to impress your competitors the next time you are racing in Europe! ) The book is very basic, but sometimes it is a good thing to go back and revisit those basics.

Russian Massage - August 24, 2008

I figured that a massage would be in order after the mountainous University Road Race. I decided to give the Russian masseuse a try. Elena is affiliated with the Russians and is married to one of the Russian pro cyclists. She is this cute petite platinum blonde and shows up in her Skins. We met at Five Rings Cycling Centre where she often sets up on the second level. I arrive at 6:30 PM and Dmitrij is there - he was very disappointed when I told him about my race results. He suggests that Elena set up in the front ante-room on the first floor since the second floor would be too hot. So we lock the doors and pull the shades. Elena apologizes that her English is not too good - I say don't worry, I will just sleep through the massage. Ha! Was I wrong! Elena's is incredible - her hands are strong and feel huge for a little girl. She does long long strokes with just the perfect amount of pressure. She does my butt and torso. This is truly a sports cycling massage. Ambience is poor - no incense or music - we have bright lights and traffic noise. But the price is right and it felt great. I am sure that it helped my recovery.

University Road Race - Sunday, August 24

University Road Race is part of the CalCup series. I signed up because it was held on the Santa Cruz campus with beautiful ocean vistas. It was still a long drive from San Mateo, but a pleasant one and no bridges to cross. The good news and the bad news - my start time was around 12:30 which meant I didn;t have to get up at an ungodly hour, but the temps were going to be quite warm. The course was billed as "mountainous" (not simply hilly) and I was warned that this is the hardest road race of the season. This is more like a circuit race - 14 laps of 3 miles with 400 feet of climbing per lap. No flat areas on the course - you are either climbing or descending. I am a good climber but an uncanny ability to recover, so I (and my coach) thought that I would do well. Wrong - what was missing from that analysis is that only the strongest and lightest racers entered. I dropped RFA at 8:45 at Canada and 92 for the Russian ride and headed out to Santa Cruz on my own (after a stop at Starbucks). I didn't have a chance to pre-ride the course but got a glimpse of the steep part of the climb while driving to the parking lot. I had a good warm-up on the trainer. It was foggy when I arrived, but soon the sun was shining and the afternoon temps were in the low 80's - hot for this kind of racing. The Cat 4 women's field was pretty small - I finished tenth - dead last if you don't count the DNP person. It seems that two other folks either dropped out or didn't get captured in the standings (that happens, I know!) because we had 13 at the start line. The race started with a climb and my heart rate was at 160. I stayed with the peleton for three laps and I was the first to drop off. There was one heart-stopping moment on the fast descent when someone braked and I came way too close to hitting Janet Martinez' wheel. After I got dropped, I simply decided to do my own training ride. I lost a lot of time on the descents since I didn't have anyone to draft (except for one Webcor guy who told me to grab his wheel on one of the descents - that made a difference of 32 mph v. 28 mph which is huge over 14 laps. Eventually I got lapped which really sucked. The feed station was well-manned and I was able to drink plenty of water and pour water down my back to cool off. I was glad when it was over. Not sure if I will do this again. The Cat 1/2 women were really fast. I am not a big person (5' 41/2" tall and less than 110#) but the women's field was full of these little midgets!!

Roses for National Championship Win at Masters Track

I never received so many roses in my life! Red, white and blue roses (or close to it) from my husband (and my soigneur – he has been upgraded from bike slave) Hermes and yellow roses from my coaches Dmitriy and Vladimir. If it is possible, my coaches were even more excited than me! I owe so much to my husband, coaches, Webcor teammates and training mates for their inspiration and encouragement. They have more faith in my ability than I do – I am just glad that I did not disappoint them.