Racing for Wine and Glory

I think we're pretty fortunate to live in a region that 1. has so many races - I mean, I can find a race pretty much every weekend day through Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter (CYCLOCROSS) within a couple hour drive from my house; and 2. to have such enthusiastic ambassadors for the sport, who spend their weekends putting these races on. I know the registration fees are high, and the prize money isn't the greatest..but the fact is - it takes a lot to put on a race, and there are a ton of volunteers who sacrifice their race days to make our race days happen. So, thanks to you mr. or miss or mrs. race day organizer who wake up in the morning, cup o coffee in hand and brave the 100 mile hour winds (yeah i'm exaggerating, but not by much) of Wente* to make sure there's someone in the reg tent, on all the sketchy corners, in the follow car, and on the sidelines yelling - don't give up Courtney you're doing great (as i'm off the back chillin' enjoying my 35 dollar "ride"). Not sure who that was, but thanks for the encouragement!

There were two of us - despite our efforts to recruit Beth out to race with the us on Friday night...she had to go take "pictures" of the "ocean"...whatever...like she's a professional photographer or something...Oh, wait - she is and here's her pro blog.

Beth set us this picture from her twilight photo shoot - thanks for the pre race inspiration teamie!




Beth is currently taking bookings for weddings, and adventure photo shoots - hit her up if you need someone to document your adventure or corporate outing. She's rad, and very passionate about pictures.

When we got to the race, it was 52 degrees and WINDY. Oh my i've never seen wind like that at a race. I'm pretty sure i saw a few little climbers flying through the air to registration. The course was pretty brutal - around 1500 vertical feet per lap - and it was sneaky..it wasn't like here's the big hill you have to climb - it was rollers, and then descents, and false flats into the wind. We had to do 4 laps for a total of 60 miles. Well, to say the least it wasn't my day in the saddle. We all have them. I fell OTB with two to go, and after trying to drill it in the wind to catch back on, decided - yeah, looking at cows and baby sheep and pretty green hills was way more fun. I called it a day, and figured i'd yell at Devon a little, since she was in really good position and killing it in the race.

I got out of my cham-wow, packed up the car, and thought playing follow car would be fun. I even took a little video of the race finish. I tucked in behind the lead womens group in the Honda Element - The Official, Legitimate, Professional Team Car, and watched the end of the race unfold. Attack by Fremont bank, Counter by Webcor, Devon throwing it down - the pack shattered by the last climb and vicious final efforts. Devon ended up a hard earned 4th place for the day - super proud of her. It was a really hard course, and she had very challenging opponents!

* I think Wente should be a place and a winery. So, i'm going to refer to Wente as a place in this post.