Actual Prizes!

Holy crap bat kids! I actually won SOMETHING at a bike race. Besides bragging rights and or a medal.

And that would be a $20 gift certificate to REI, beeyoches. Woot.

Women's Series Crits

We raced a very short race on Monday due to an accident in the B field. After that got cleared up and the A women got a little organized, we had time to do about 8 laps. So I did an 8 lap crit. Normally thats about 1/3 of a race. The women's series has been doing 18 laps for the previous 2 weeks. There was a pretty heafty head wind too on the back side. So I'm glad I only had to deal with the wind 8 times. We were giving a pretty decent effort and only going 15mph or so.

I managed not to get stuck out in the wind towing everybody with a 1/2 lap to go this time, saw the break start and I went with it. Stuck on, but didnt give it enough in the sprint to actually do much of anything. I need to practice my sprinting and doing so in a much larger gear than I'd like to be. But I got 4th in that race.

With two 4th place finishes and a 6th place finish I ended up getting 3rd overall in the series. I even get stuff. We didnt stick around for prizes because it was getting dark and we had to get home (no lights). I'll post about my splendiferous prizes when I get them.

Oh yea, I've now done 4 road races this entire year. Stupid mt bike season overlap.

EPMotion

For all the girls that pipet late at night....this is too awesome. Yea its an ad, but I'd buy it if group was part of the deal. Enjoy!

Monday Monday Monday

The last 2 Mondays have been the Eugene Women's Crit series. Tomorrow will be the final race. On my birthday. They should let me win based on that alone. ;)

They have been a lot of fun. Kori Kunz from the Poplollies is doing an awesome job of teaching the less experienced girls about bike handling and sprinting and general cycling etiquette. The races have been really laid back and relaxed

I felt great last weekend. Even after I raced the day before for a couple of hours at Mt Hood (which is hard and rugged and hot). Although my placing wasnt as high, I did a lot more work at closing gaps and staying on wheels. My crit racing skills are a bit rusty, since monday will be only the 4th road race I've done this season.

Between mtn biking and finishing up shcool and work, I havent a lot of time for training. So now that I do have some time and some ambition, the season is pretty much over. And the few road races that are coming up I will be doing field work. So bummer, but thats ok, if I can keep my strength through the fall and work on speed for next year, it will be ON.

I like it when Chris takes pictures like this, I like to pretend I'm off the front and about to win.

Beef Jerky Time

So my cat is actually a small white basset hound. He'll eat anything. I mean anything. Some of the long list includes:

corn chips

corn on the cob

every flavor of ice cream I've had

gummy bears

margaritas

red and white wine

grapefruit juice

Massaman curry (spicy)

beers, esp IPAs

So its no wonder he likes beef jerky. Chris left some out on the counter last night when we went to Thai food. I came home and turned the light on in the living room, and there was the spicy peppered beef jerky, bag torn open jerky and peppers spread across the living room floor. 

And then as we went to bed, Pim was back up on the counter trying to get into the human food cupboard. Presumably to find more jerky. Or corn chips. Or pop tarts. Or whatever else he could get his grubby paws on.

Picketts Charge

Phil's Trailhead, Bend OR. Good legs, lots of rest, smiles and sun = good race.

Swoopy fun and not too long or too hard. It was great. I rode with Anna from Team S&M the whole way and pipped her at the line. Felt kind of bad for that, but I really wanted the points for 5th place since we were so close overall in the series. I was happy to be there, felt fantastic and I didnt even crash. Well ok except for the pre ride, where I burped my front tire (I dont use tubes, I have a strip that seals the rim, and then put a liquid latex mixture in there so it seals up any small punctures from thorns or the like that would normally give a flat tire, but when you peel the tire away from the rim, its called burping, and usually makes you crash). So I have a plethora of bruises from that, but not from the race. And yes, 2 weeks later, they are still there. Thanks to my pastiness.

This was a fun race, there was even 6 sport women (which is a lot, yes that is sad). I rode with them most of the way, Heather from Tireless Velo took off like a rocket from the start and put about 15 minutes into the rest of us. I think that kind of time calls for an upgrade. There was a split about half way, which I managed to miss due to being at the back of the pack. Generally I'm very uncomfortable with people riding right on my wheel. I dont know why, but I tend to ride like crap when someone is right there. I obviously need to work on being way off the front.

Anyways it was a great race, well organized, good turn out. But most of all fun.