Superweek is over! I am sad, but I don't think I could have raced another race.
With sadness and total exhaustion, I say goodbye to Superweek and fly back to Denver. I have had a really amazing week.
Today's Results: 10th
Overall for the series: 5th
Number of Clif shots consumed in the last 6 days: 20
Number of Clif shots that came back up after consumption: 1
Number of Trader Joes chocolate milks consumed this week: 7
Number of cavities developed from the Clif and Cytomax: TBD
Number of miles driven: 550
Number of crashes (bike not car): 1
Number of times I couldn't find my race: 1
Number of State troopers passed going 80 mph: 2
Number of speeding tickets: 0, THANK GOD!
Today was the Whitefish Bay classic which was a total of 2.9 miles from Abby's parents' house. First, a few words about Abby's parents: I was granted host housing and turned it down to stay with Abby's parents. I have known Abby since 1999 when we met as new associates at Andersen. Abby is from Fox Point and I asked if she thought it would be strange if I stay with her parents. They were so nice and wonderful and her mom kept grocery shopping for me. My bed was comfortable and I was also left with instructions on watching the Tour. I have an outstanding invitation and I plan to return. Yesterday, I could hear my name called when I would come up the hill and it was Karen and Aaron cheering me on! Today they both came out to the race, again. I felt so lucky!
The race today was a more technical race and a few more ladies showed up. I thought the fresh legged ones would stir something up, but they didn't. The start of the race included a call-up for the top three finishers from yesterday and the top five overall leaders. I was ranked 4th overall this morning by 1 point over Amanda from Iowa. I felt sort of pro at that time!!
The race took off and the plan was to try and make sure that the same lady who had won just about everything else (FYI former Cat 2 who downgraded herself post babies) wasn't going to win. The problem was that I was REALLY tired and the crash from yesterday had sort of caught up with me. When I crashed yesterday, my right foot stayed in the pedal, and my body sort of twisted my right ankle. If you have read previous entries, you will probably know that my ankle was a disaster last year and I was in a cast in October and off the bike for 3 months plus PT for 9 months. Therefore, my ankle was really bugging me in the race and I was a little concerned. I also now know what 6 consecutive days of racing feels like and my whole body is tired. My arms hurt from yanking on the bike in the sprint, my hands hurt from being in the drops all the time, my quads hurt, my calves are tight and my ass really hurts, too (I really need a different saddle.) Generally, everything feels wrecked.
I tried to get away a few times with some other ladies, but that didn't work. I chased probably a bit too much and should have let others do it, but I always think I am the last one in line. A German girl was racing and as she doesn't speak English, she tapped my butt to let me know she was coming up. Interesting!
Anyway, people attacked, I chased, others chased, the final lap came along, I was in 4th into the final turn, got out of the saddle to sprint and about half way to the finish line, I sat back down! I had NOTHING left. NOTHING. I got 10th. The same winning lady won again. I also lost my one point to Amanda and got 5th overall which was fine.
Karen and Aaron were telling me that every time I came around in a good position, the announcer would say that I was from Denver, but had just moved there from San Francisco and that I don't really like hills. Funny.
The fun thing about Superweek is that the announcers rally the spectators for money and get primes for the race. I think this is a great idea! Last night at Downer Classic for the Pro 1/2 men, there was a "Super Prime" which was $4,000. INSANE. The race was fun to watch, but you could tell that guys were really tired from the past 2 weeks of racing. A group of 5 got off the front and included 2 Rock and Republic dudes (they never wear the white shorts anymore). You could tell that they didn't know if they should rejoin the pack in order to have a free for all for the prime, or stay off the front. They stayed off and didn't lap the field. Then the super prime was called for the field which I thought was sort of lame. Rasheed from Rock and Republic got the super prime and Rock ended up winning the race. I cheer for the local SF teams and if I recognize a CO team, I cheer for them, too.
The SF guys included a handful of Squadra, Morgan Stanley, a Metromint and Devon Vigus from Cal Giant who was all alone as well. From Colorado there is a Mob guy, Izze and GS Boulder.
Anyway, I wonder if Tinkerbell is even going to get unpacked this week. I suspect that spinning out my legs tomorrow would be a wise move, but I am not really even sure if I will get home tonight as my flight to Dallas was delayed more than two hours and my flight to Denver seems to have been delayed only one hour which means that I miss my flight to Denver which is also the last for the night. I unpacked my PJs and my toothbrush in case, but I don't have any toothpaste as it was more than a 3 ounce tube. Whatever. I am so freaking tired and all I really want to do is get in my own bed.
On an unrelated or slightly related note, the Tour. This is the first year that I really didn't care who won as long as it wasn't Levi. I know, I am mean and he is even trained my Testa. He is cepid and boring. Did anyone notice Cadel's scowl while he was on the podium, or was it that he was trying not to burp? Ever notice the face of a small child who is going poop in his diapers? He sort of looks like that.
Anyway, that's my Tour talk, now it's time for the Vuelta.
Oh, and this is monumental: the last two years, on the Saturday before the end of the Tour de France, I have been dumped. It sucks. So this year, I didn't date. Problem solved. But, three years ago on the same day, I crashed on Mount Tam and slid down part of Rail Road Grade on my stomach and had road rash everywhere. Four years ago, I crashed along Lake Geneva and my arm got so infected that I ended up in the hospital and they were talking about how to not amputate my arm. Well, I will take my minor crash from yesterday and my 6th place finish as a very good day compared to the last four years!! I think the curse is broken!
Labels: Superweek, Whitefish Bay
Pabst Blue Ribbon - Brewer's Hill
Result: 6th
Number of times I felt good in this race: 0 (maybe once...)
Crash I was involved in: 1
Silly ladies who got tangled and took me out: 4
Awesome Sram neutral support who put my bike back together so I could continue: 2
Breweries on Brewer's Hill: none!
Port-a-potty for bike race: 1 (WTF??)
Nice fireman who let me use the Engine House 21 bathroom: 2
I was numb before this race. I couldn't get my heart up past 140 and was so tired that even "spinning" out my legs hurt. This was day 5 of 6 and boy did I feel it! Yesterday afternoon I got an email from my boss that she needed me to make changes to some memos before Sunday and so I rushed home only to have my computer lock me out at 10 and for an hour I tried to get back on line to no avail. So I was really wrecked this morning and a little emotional.
The course description said that there was a big hill in it. I was thinking Cat's Hill - - scary, but after seeing it, I was totally calm as it isn't a hill, it's really just a power climb that I knew I could get over.
It's similar to the Giro as the pavement was awful and there is a power climb into a taper. The taper was at the start finish. After almost the first lap completed (of 35) 4 ladies tangled up and crashed. I thought I was clear, but then they landed on me and I went into the barrier which actually sort of hurt! I stood up (of course my bad ankle was twisted in the pedal) and yanked my bike out of the pile and got back on only to realize that my saddle was at 90 degrees of where it is supposed to be and my break lever was turned inward.
I missed one lap and then got back on. I was so spent! No one was really making a move and that was good for me. A little while later, I would hear my name called and Abby's parents had come to watch me race. that is so sweet! They have been buying me fabulous groceries all week as well!
Anyway, long story short, the 3rd to last lap was probably the slowest, the second to last lap, I got in the 4th position, and held onto it. I wasn't sure how to judge the hill into the wind for the finish line and I went a little late letting two people pass me and I got 6th.
I am now 4th of 5th overall for the series, but I learned today that only 1st place gets anything so who cares anymore.
Kenosha, baby!
Place: 8th
Number of pulls I took: Too many
Number in the break: 5
Number of other ladies willing to try and bring back the break: 5
Number of ladies willing to do absolutely nothing: 35
Well, today was interesting. We had 48 laps to do in a short .6 mile square. With 11 laps done, 3 people made for a break and it stuck. I was trying to hard to get people to work and take short pulls but for some reason people thought this meant attack and sprint. After another 15 laps passed, I was sort of boxed in the middle when Amanda and one more made a break and also managed to make that stick. I gave up on the pack and sat in or attempted to sit in. There were so many attacks and being that the pack was so lame, I had to be on my toes. At this point on the 4th consecutive day of racing, I have a confession: my legs hurt!!!
So, with 3 laps to go, I put myself in a decent position and with one to go, I was still ok, but then the pack got squirly and I found a little hole and went for it. Had two leading me to the finish line, one I couldn't catch, one I caught and the girl who won at Green Bay came flying past me for 7th.
I was frustrated as we never caught the break, which we should have been able to accomplish, but I finished sans crash and tied for 5th overall. I for some reason think that is really funny!
Souperweek, the soup is getting chunky
Laps on my own: 4
Primes: 2
Results: 7th
Crash avoided: 1 big one at the final sprint
Famous Sheboygan Brat eaten: 1 (Sausage, not children)
Today was an awesome course and really great for me. There was a small hill after a long fast straight slight downhill into a short sprint into the wind for the finish line and I thought I could do pretty well. I usually don't go for the primes, but found myself in great position for one and took it, looked back to realize I had about half a lap on everyone else so I thought... what would Virgil do? She'd go off the front, so I did. I got another prime and was off the front from lap 11 to 7. Bad laps, but I figured if you will get caught you can sort of sit in the pack for a few more laps. On the second to last lap, the sky opened up and the rain came down in buckets on pavement that had not seen rain in more than a week... this caused some scary moments out there. I got myself into about the 9th place for the final turn (legs were on fire) and was feeling sort of spent, but figured I could pass about 3 people in the final sprint. The girl in front on the left skidded and took out the other three people in front of me, I had to come to a stop to avoid, start my sprint over and got passed by about two people in the process. I am now ranked 5th or so overall for the week. Crazy!
My poor new friend Amanda got taken out in the crash and she was thinking that her legs were good enough to win. She was in 2nd place overall before the crash. I felt bad!
In other news, the prime included two pairs of socks, so I got four... all women's sized 10-13. Who has feet this big? I gave a pair to the photog.
Oh, and this is so sort of pro-ish, they interview you if you are in the top three and then they reintroduce you at the start line the next day. So yesterday I was interviewed and this morning my name was called out again. Hey... it's somthing! Sort of cheesy, but I came all the way from Denver for this, so appreciated.
AND... This just in:
(Pro Men) The Sheboygan Criterium was on Thursday night. The event was neutralized and canceled after 99 of the 100km. Apparently, in the final laps there was a serious crash where a spectator and several riders were injured. I don't have any information their conditions.
That SUCKS!!!
Labels: Superweek
Just racing my bike old-school style... sans doper
I raced my second race in the lovely (not so lovely) Green Bay, WI. I wanted to take a photo of the Brett Favre Steak House billboard, but I was driving my Kia Sorrento and didn't want to crash for fear of tipping over.
Yes, I have heard the news and yes, I am really in shock, but instead... I will talk about my podium finish today.
I got 2nd!
I knew that this crit was more my speed and style although it was so non-technical that I feel sort of lame for even racing it. I always feel a sense of guilt for doing well in a crit that doesn't really even have 4 corners as it was pretty sweeping. There was a headwind so that makes my sprint finish feel a little more deserving and the 90+ temp and 80% humidity also counted for something.
Jesse had me doing crazy sprint workouts for the last 6 weeks and I think it has paid off as I was able to hold off and pass almost everyone but finally one girl from NYC was able to get past me right at the line. I did all the things I usually do in a crit that is working for me - - never let more than about 7 people ahead of me, fight for good placing starting the second to last lap (was in about 3rd place for the last two laps), choose a good wheel to hold onto and pray that I am right (try this in a totally different racing environment - - it's hard!) and hope to god the sprint is not on vacation as it has been for the last 5 months!
Having fun, making friends and certainly coming back next year.
I have a podium shot, but I cannot get my silly computer to VPN into the internet at the house I am staying at... so photos come later!
Tomorrow... Sheboygan!
PS and yes Chris, it is possible to have about 3/4 uphill and 1/4 downhill if the downhill is much steeper than the uphill so that the uphill is slightly more gradual and lasts longer than the downhill. I wasn't lying!
Labels: Superweek
Doper. The last person I would have thought to do it.
I am here at Superweek and just completed my first of 6 crits. I was excited and was going to write about that, but I am just heart broken regarding Vino's doping. I love him as a cyclist... he has style and amazing power to overcome. I know that despite the doping, these last few weeks have been so hard on him. Did he do it b/c of the crash and the pain or was this something he did before? Also, what about the rest of the Astana team? They are representing Kazakhstan and now they have just totally fucked everything up.
So sad. I concur with David Millar who said he wanted to cry.
"Alexandre Vinokourov staged one of the Tour's most surprising comebacks when he recovered from a disastrous first half of the Tour to win the stage 13 time trial in Albi. Coming into the day over eight minutes down on GC, his dominating victory had fans going wild over the teal blue clad rider who had clawed his way from 18th overall back inside the top ten as a result of the win.
When 'Vino' cracked in the Pyrenees on stage 14 and lost more than 29 minutes and then rebounded on Monday's stage 15 to Loudenvielle, where he made the early break and then stormed away for another stage win, his fans and team were elated. But dark clouds quickly formed overnight when the Kazakh rider got the results of a blood test taken after his time trial victory which showed evidence of an illegal blood transfusion.
A counter-analysis is expected by Wednesday, but the Tour took no time in asking the Switzerland-based team to go home. Vinokourov, as well as team-mates Klöden, Savoldelli, Kashechkin, Ivanov, Navarro, Colom, Rast and Iglinskiy, will not start on Wednesday when the Tour departs from Orthez."
OK... S U P E R W E E K = HARD!!!
My first race was actually very hard! It was about 3/4 uphill and 1/4 downhill. It was a race of attrition. I tried to keep myself in the front 15-20 and was in the front 10 or so for a while... but that climb! The start finish was an uphill to a flat sort of bumpy road to a right with a climb, then a banked right into another climb with a peak and then the downhill. EVERYONE BRAKED ON THE DOWNHILL! This was driving me crazy, but I didn't have enough to get over the climbs to put myself in a better position for the downhill. We dropped about 20 riders and then there was a group of 15. Some silly Manitoba lady (Canadians... kidding!) took off from the left and almost took me out and pointed to my right as that is where she wanted to go... OK, make sure not to take out 4 people on the way, which is what she did. Thankfully it wasn't me who crashed. Then another woman crashed herself out. I think she hit the curb. I was a little afraid as I had a waterbottle in my hand and wasn't being too cautious. All in all, a good race.
Tomorrow is a crit in Green Bay which is supposed to be totally flat. Thank god! Oh, and funny, this rider from Oklahoma told me that she was scared of me when she saw me b/c of my legs! I will take the compliment.
Labels: Superweek, Vinokourov
Ride like Rancid Gazpacho
This is a direct quote from Breego regarding my leaving for Souper Week tomorrow morning. I have never packed up a bike so beautifully and with such care.
In other news, if I didn't think Virgil was a bad ass before, now I really do! She crashed out in Watsonville when her tire blew off the rim, totally road rashed on one side, she got up, ran to get a spare wheel, and rejoined the race, dripping blood, took some primes for the hell of it and came in 4th. Wow... I bow down to Virgil.
Today was the Albany Crit about a mile from my parent's house. This was the first race where I actually realized that I could race (2005). Elis and I were dropped off the race and then she yelled at me to get on her wheel. I grabbed her wheel and we made it back onto the pack and I came in 5th. I thanked her. After that, I won the next week and a few more weeks.
Max Testa told me that I needed to believe in myself, I also confessed to him that I had been dumped the night before (never date a radiologist) and he said "ahhhh, heartbreak is great for racing! I recommend it for all my athletes." I will never forget him saying this... it certainly made the sting of the breakup so much better as did the next 3 wins.
OK, back to packing. The bike is done, but the other stuff isn't...
Rumble Chicken
Lots of interesting comments particularly from Breego a la CRC mailing regarding the Chicken losing 2'55 to Vino in his worst discipline. Bock Bock? What up? Do we think the chicken has some cow blood in him? I sincerely hope that the skinny wonder didn't, but if anyone really looked at his TT? It was UGLY! Le poulet... le sigh.
Provence
Although there are no mountain stages right now, I am still very happily watching the stages as they are in my most favorite part of the world and a place I hope and aim to be for a week in October. This photo is of Mayo when he won Alp d'Huez in 2003. I took the photo after a very long morning and long hot ride to the last 4 km of Alp d'Huez. On the 50km ride back to the car, I got stung by a bee in my lip. try and find anything open on a Sunday evening in France!
Provence is like Napa with a bonus... the bonus is that I stay in a 17th century farm house (mas), eat wonderful fresh food, see Roman ruins, smell lavender everywhere and also experience the medieval hill top towns. Can you tell I would rather be in Provence than anywhere??? Oh, and the riding around there is so fabulous.
In 2003 the week after climbing Alp d'Huez in 108 degree weather, my bf at the time and myself went to Provence for the weekend and climbed Ventoux. The weather had cooled a bit and we left our hotel in Vaison la Romain at 7:15 in the morning. It was fabulous.
After I reached the top, an American tourist handed me a cookie. I stared at the cookie for 45 minutes and have it in my hands in all my photos. (Note, it's in my hand in the photo here.) I finally gave it to Matt. The decent was over 45 minutes - - my hands were tired from using the breaks so I would slow to almost 0 and then let go of the breaks and go until I was close to 45 mph and then slow way back down again to minimize breaking. After returning to Vaison, I had a baguette, a chunk of sheep cheese, some eggplant spread (caviar d'aubergine) and some prosciutto. That was some living.
Anyway, my deep love for Provence is why I watch the flat stages like today - - although today was most exciting as I was watching during the split and shake-up. So cool.
Labels: Provence, Ventoux
Why can the Chicken climb so well?
Do you see that? That is one skinny ass. Still, it's an impressive ass, but a skinny ass.
Props to MLE for taking that photo back in February.
I don't know, I don't know, I don't know!!
For once, I have managed to not find out who won yesterday's stage. I usually will read up on cyclingnews not caring about who won and I will watch it happily nonetheless, but not Stage 8. I have a suspicion thanks to the Denver Post and some stupid guy who wrote me to talk about the stage. But, I officially don't know so I will keep it like that. I do remember waking up on my couch last night and seeing Stuie being hauled off in an ambulance. I was so sad as he's one of my favorite sprinters. Other pieces of information received included McEwan dropping out. So Sad.
Anyway, I heard a rumor that a major GC contender also dropped out yesterday, so I really hope that it isn't Vino as I love the crazy Lithuanian. I heard in my dreams on the couch that he had his knee stitched in his pedalling position. That's major bad ass!
Why didn't I stay glued to OLN (refuse to call it VS) when I was watching it at 5:30 yesterday morning? I raced Lafayette Lady 3/4 race. Bad ass Janelle in her Euro-delite sunglasses came in 3rd. I was most impressed with the Vities this race. More later on the race. Oh, I got 8th. I was standing at the start line (for 30 minutes while they towed cars) and I was thinking "wow, I am so tired and have been on the bike everyday for more than two weeks." Yup.
That's the face I make when slugging down the Clif Double Espresso Shot. There was a Peet's around the corner, I should have gone for that instead.
Fancy
Since there are no women on this particular team, I can talk about their really fancy website. Mack sent me the link this morning and I am a little jealous! Not to mention they look rather bad ass. Note a few of the taped up legs. grrrrr. My personal favorite fact is that you can download wallpaper. I hope my team never allows people to download wallpaper of me... scary!
See y'all at Lafayette this weekend. Do I ever race in CO? Well, once or twice... better do it some more to break even on the ACA license!
Sept, Sept, Sept
So, it's 7.7.7 today. Was I lucky? I didn't win anything on the Saab fly to the finish sweepstakes even though I knew the secret word: Big Ben. My poor Stuie wasn't lucky when he crashed in the prologue, but Cancellara had a great win, again, not luck since that Swissie kicks some serious ass.
Luck? I wasn't hit by a car out on my ride. I got to ride. My car started. I wasn't struck by lightening despite quite a storm this afternoon. (Car increasingly dirty despite washing on the 4th.)
Sadly, there were no ACA or USAC races in Colorado this weekend, so I didn't get to try out my luck there either. I am curious about the twilight Crit in San Rafael tonight... I would have loved to do that race, then again... would I have been lucky against the likes of the Proman ladies? I would have settled for whatever came after the successful break.
Labels: luck
Americana
Lorri Lown (Velo Girl #1) is in Denver, so we went for a ride yesterday out of Boulder. I took her up Jamestown as I thought it would be a nice and pretty ride. Everyone was out and when we got to Jamestown, the pancake breakfast with live kazoo music was winding up.
Jamestown is unique as it 's a cross between Hill Billy and Hippy, what is that Hipp Billy? There I saw a Monster truck but it was like one of the step side 1960's chevy's... turquoise with the words on the back "Jesus is Lord". I wanted to take a photo for Breego, but the 20 year old punk girl with the giant lip ring was driving it up away from the town to get ready for the parade.
Upon return to Denver, I washed my car, gardened for 3 hours and then went to a BBQ which Lorri was attending. Of course it rained last night as I had washed my car!
Epo Te Quiero
I had to... this is DAMN funny!
EPO
The race took off and the plan was to try and make sure that the same lady who had won just about everything else (FYI former Cat 2 who downgraded herself post babies) wasn't going to win. The problem was that I was REALLY tired and the crash from yesterday had sort of caught up with me. When I crashed yesterday, my right foot stayed in the pedal, and my body sort of twisted my right ankle. If you have read previous entries, you will probably know that my ankle was a disaster last year and I was in a cast in October and off the bike for 3 months plus PT for 9 months. Therefore, my ankle was really bugging me in the race and I was a little concerned. I also now know what 6 consecutive days of racing feels like and my whole body is tired. My arms hurt from yanking on the bike in the sprint, my hands hurt from being in the drops all the time, my quads hurt, my calves are tight and my ass really hurts, too (I really need a different saddle.) Generally, everything feels wrecked.
