Racing has been going quite well- I did my first collegiate race of the year (Dallas) and had fun racing with the boys. It is good to get some speed back in the legs. I also attempted Fayetteville with the Cat 3 men, but the race turned ugly with a 25 degrees drop in temperature, hail, rain, and the craziest wind I've rode in...all during the race. Oh and I flatted in the first 10 miles. Luckily, I wasn't the only one, so Patrick from Wooley Mammoth and I encouraged each other to keep going. Not that it ended up mattering, since we finished but the officials DQed us anyways. Lame!
Spring break was great- I just enjoyed a week of relaxing and spending time with friends. Peter was at training camp in California, so he was gone for the most of it. When he got back, we enjoyed a few dates without the pressure of classes and work.
Danielle and I- Spring Break shenanigans and silly facesMy spring break ended up being a bit extended with Redlands where I was guesting with Veloforma. I flew out Tuesday after class and arrived pretty late. Randy Williams was kind enough to pick me up from the airport and take me to Veloforma's host house. They were a great team to guest with- great attitude and all very generous and kind. The races themselves went pretty well and I dramatically improved from last year, so I was pleased (but not satisfied).
Thursday was the hilly TT. I only brought my Gary Fisher road bike so I had no TT gear. It's still a toss up to me whether TT gear is necessary or not for that...maybe aero bars and carbon wheels. I finished 46th which was a lot better than last year...about a minute faster. There is still definitely plenty of room for improvement!
Friday was the Beaumont Road Race, just shy of 70 miles with a new bigger loop added with a longer climb. It went pretty well and I was able to move up at the end and try to lead out Christina. I got swarmed right before the finish, but still managed 25th. She was able to pull off 11th.
Saturday was the crit. Sadly, I ended up starting in the back after they called up the top 20 and the girl in front of me missed her pedal and crashed into two other girls. YAY. Went from starting mid-pack to the back. Pretty much ended up tailgunning the rest as the pace was very high from the gun and girls were getting shelled one by one. I finished with the pack but that is about it. I've got to be more agressive. I wasted too much energy trying to move up from the very back with all the turns.
Sunday was the infamously hard Sunset Road Race. 9 laps, half climbing, half descending. Once again I let myself start in the back and had to spend the whole first climb dodging people getting dropped. I finally caught the front group in the feed zone but then was so blown that I slowly got dropped by 2/3 through the second time up. A couple laps later, I was caught by a big group of 30 or so. They pulled us after 6 or 7 laps of misery. There weren't too many up the road- I think maybe 20 finished in the front, front group.
Sunset Loop (I'm middle-right)
I definitely improved a lot from last year, but there is still lots of room for improvement. I'm looking forward to some more speedwork with racing with the boys and learning to be more agressive. Thanks to Veloforma for such a great guesting experience :-)
This week is pretty chill for riding and school, which is allowing me to catch up with life. Looking forward to going to Dallas this weekend for Easter to spend time with Peter's family.
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