Andrea’s California adventures:

Hello all. I am in California getting in some early races. I have just finished the San Dimas stage race, and will be racing the first NRC race of year, the Redland Bicycle Classic, in a few days. Here is an update on my adventures so far.

Well, I have teamed up with 3 terrific bike racing girls, Moriah, Jenny and Leah, and we stayed in the OC with Moriah’s lovely aunt and Uncle, Joy and Peter; this is the backdrop to my first race of the season.  In our Thrifty’s rental, Town and Country minivan, we traveled the very fast and vast freeways to and from our stage races in San Dimas.

I arrived at LAX on Thursday, took a shuttle to the Thrifty’s car rental, hung out there until Moriah arrived (we were on different flights), and made friends with two Thrifty employee’s who are retired/casual cyclists (one rides to train for motor cross). Anyway, the rental went smoothly and we were on the road for the OC where we all met up at our home away from home for the weekend.  It was a long day of travel, and I was looking forward to getting a good sleep before the hill climb the next day.  Oh, I have a “jerk on a plane” story for you; ok, so my plan was to sleep on the flight to LA, and this was not to happen; as I reclined my seat I felt an aggressive tapping on my shoulder; the guy behind me says this: “ uh, no, sorry, but you have to move your seat up, I’m really tall, you  can’t do that”… I can sympathize with the need for leg room, so I decided to try and get karma on my side and cater to the whims of Mr. Long legs ( there was also a crying baby behind me too, but I think Mr. IPod did its job with that one).

I guess I better get to the racing bit…

Since this is my first race of 2010, I need to go into it with a positive mindset to learn as much as I can, get some race fitness and be sure to have fun with the amazing Californian race experience.  So I’m focusing on getting into racing mode and to make sure I leave each event knowing I raced to my limit that day.  I don’t think it will be difficult to ride to my limit since the field of about 90 racers includes the likes of top teams such as High Road, Tibco, Colivita, and the new Peanut Butter 2012 team and riders like Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (the German who makes everyone hurt) and Mara Abbot (the girl who makes you feel like a gigantic immobile rock when climbing with her) and some other  scary fast ladies.  Seriously, I am lucky if this week goes by without me having night mares.

The hill climb:

 Well, I must say, it was a beautiful hill. But it hurt like an evil, ugly hill. I climbed like a mad woman, and felt like a mad woman after the climb ( there was water at the top and I honestly couldn’t function well enough to pour myself a cup…thankfully a very kind, less-mad racer poured me some).  Then came the results...well those are always feared by me after time trails; these results were the “room for improvement” type. Us girls were all pretty tired after the day of climbing, but I think we handled it well.  We got back into the ‘town and country’, and rolled back to the OC for rest and recuperation, and a Trader Joe’s stop for some food and much needed water refills.

The Road Race:

I throw up 3 times in this race; I’m getting to be pretty discreet at it though.  I think that’s the best way to describe the sensation of the race. It was an 8 lap circuit race that had a KOM climb each lap that the pace was high on and there was a stretch of cobble stones at the top that shredded the legs.  The race length was not too bad, 90 kms, but the heat made for a challenging day. There was a strict 5% time cut in the race, so it was important not to get dropped from the main pack, or else it was likely to not move on to the next stage.  I was happy with my ability to hang onto the race and manage the pace on the climb. There were two laps that I fell back on, so I had to catch back up along with some other riders. The climb was just about a kilometer from the finish line, so my goal was to make sure I was well placed for the climb on lap 7, and that way if I fell back on lap 8 I was confident I could finish close behind the pack and move on to the next day.  The plan went well, I was in the top 15 for the lap 7 climb, and I stayed comfortably in the pack until lap 8 climb, where, inevitably, I cracked, majorly, and rolled in about  1 minute back. The other girls did amazing today; Leah and Jenny fought it out in the pack, and Moriah fought more than any of us; she had a flat on lap 2 and had to try and catch back on without the help of a caravan ( there were no team follow cars in this race).  After the race we did a cool down, me and Leah got lost and came close to a nervous breakdown/ bonk (that gives you an idea of our after-race state).  I think we all had the effects of heat stroke from the day, but we were in good cheer on the way home…until we got rear ended! So after taking the necessary information and doing all that grown up stuff, we continued on home, a little stiff, not sure whether it was from the whip lash, or soreness from the race..we decided it was whiplash.  Huge Kudos to Moriah for getting the Thrifty car rental full insurance package; there’s a lesson to all you future car renters…be prepared for the crazies, get insurance for your ride!

The Crit:

Well looks like there’s not much time left to talk about the Crit we raced the next day. All I can say is this: Ina-Yoko Teutenberg is unreal. There was a break away, and she broke from the breakaway, gained the minute plus some that she needed to take the yellow jersey from Mara Abbot, and rode like a freight train in the process; she is one powerful lady. Unfortunately I know all this because I was one of the casualties of the high pace of the race. I didn’t have it that day, but I am happy to say I avoided a crash…but crashes usually happen in the back of the field, and I wasn’t positioned very well being there in the back. That will need to be adjusted for Redlands.

Well, I got the first race jitters taken care of, now on to Redlands!

This had been Andrea, reporting from California