Final Day of Merco

First of all, I want to thank all of the people who encouraged and supported me throughout the stage race. The kind words, advice and direction meant a lot and helped me get through sore legs, some broken heart feelings, and fatigue. Thanks to my coach - Brian Conant, my teammates - JT, Devon, Beth, and AMJ - and all of my great friends. Also, big thanks to Trey and Roman for covering the shop while I was out!

Final race report - Almond Blossom Road race - 72 miles - place 24th

Packed everything up the night before because I knew it was going to be an early morning. I tried to go through my equipment a little, because the poor bike, wheels, chain, etc were definitely under some stress. I can see how having a team mechanic is helpful at the bigger races! My bike wasn't shifting great, but I showed her some love and hoped for the best.

I was feeling tired, and pretty heart broken after the cirt - which i was pretty excited for. But, a good friend reminded me that there is always tomorrow - and so I did my best to put the past behind me, and look to the final day - a solid 72 mile RR with rolling terrain. It was all or nothing - i mean seriously - what did I have to loose!?

Alarm went off way too soon. I looked at Cole, who was in a sleep coma on top of me, but peeking through a little slit of one of his eyes as if to say "really??!!". I was up and out the door in less than 20 min, off to you know where - Starbucks! Glad I woke up early, cause they didn't open till 6 am..nice.. waited around for my vente coffee and instant oatmeal, and then plotted my course to the race start.

My brain just felt fuzzy as I drove the same farmlands i'd been driving all week long. I was sleepy, tired, and really questioning my sanity at that point in time.

I got a sweet parking spot, front and center and proceeded to sign in, get some free food (powerbar, drinks, etc yay!), and then back to the car to warm up. Clouds looked threatening but no rain yet.

Sure enough - start time was there, and I was shoulder to shoulder with the same women i'd been racing against all week. I couldn't help but remember the story JT told me about Teutenberg - how she yelled at Kristen Armstrong when she started racing on the road. Great, here I am the only Cat 3 racer in a group of pro's - i'm probably going to get shoved off into the ditch by Tuetenberg... here goes nothin!

Race started along with the rain. Kind of reminded me of cross, which made me excited a little. My goal - to hang on to the end.

The race was FAST! we did 72 miles in 3.07.21. Talk about having to pay attention! At first I stayed towards the back, until I realized I was getting tossed around like a YOYO - then I moved up to mid pack where the pace was a little more consistent. It was raining and really hard to see and everyone was SUPER close together. Kinda freaked me out a couple times when I hit a center line reflector - made an awful sound and bumped my entire rear end almost sideways...nice. One thing i noticed is that in a P123 race - you command your space or get walked on and shoved out of the way..kinda crazy, but you have to be confident and claim your little area, or wheel that you're following - or someone else will.



There were a lot of attacks, a couple breakaways and the pace always picked up as we drew near to the finish - I think they wanted to show off so they throttled it every time. When we came up on the last lap, i knew my moment of truth was coming up. I'm not really religious - but I said a little prayer to the people I usually pray to. Then, somehow I was third wheel! I sat there in the draft of an HTC and Tibco girl for about 15 min - nervous as all get out. Again, I heard JT's Tutenberg story in the back of my mind. I'm kind of afraid of her - she's big and SUPER fast. =)

That was probably the coolest moment of the race for me. It was raining, the final lap, I was still there, and the entire field was behind me. Rad.

Then there was an attack, and another attack, and another attack - I hung in there mid group. We headed into the final turn, and the group picked up. Still there... with 300 meters to go the pace increased yet again, and someone broke - 100 meters to go the field sprint and I passed some Cat1's! Holy shit! What a race. So glad I did it, and showed up. My heart was full, no more heartache. That's the cool thing about racing. There's always tomorrow, there's always another race. End result - 24th place and same overall time as the lead group. Merco box -