Well, I’m starting to catch on to this whole “road racing” thing.  Some days at least.  I’m still learning and acting like an idiot most of the time, but at least now I’m getting some good advice from women who know what they are doing!

Saturday was the State Championship Crit in Phoenix.  A whooping 8 women showed up in the 1/2 field.  Wow, 8 whole women.  It’s too bad there weren’t more ladies racing, but at least I had two great teammates to work with.  Maggie rode out in front of the group for half the race with the other teams chasing, and when she finally got caught, Mary and I threw in some attacks for good measure.  I tried to get in a break with one other girl, but one lady - who seems to just have one speed…fast - just kept pulling everything back.  With one lap to go, she went to the front and drilled it, and I was sitting second wheel.  The idea was to get Mary - our sprinter - the win, so with two corners to go, I pulled off.  This may or may not have been very smart as Mary was two wheels back, and I ended up getting 6.  Anyways, like I said…still working on the road smarts.  Mary got 2nd place though and put out a great sprint.

Well, obviously that was not the W I referred to earlier.  Sunday was the Superior road race which has some killer climbs in it.  Since I’m preparing to get my ass handed to me at Gila, I wanted to win this race to justify even going to Gila.  Anyhow, after finding myself a death break with a nasty headwind after the first descent, I thought all hope was lost.  I did not want to be in the death break, but somehow, the women who had descended the fastest just got away from everyone else.  I “pulled” through…like a sissy…got yelled at, and was thrilled when we finally got caught by the pack.  Luckily my teammate Heidi was in there, and boy was I happy to see her.

Anyways, the race ends with a long hard climb, and then a fast descent and a couple miles of rollers.  After sitting in the group for a most of the rest of the day, when we got to the bottom of the climb, I took off and never saw anyone again!  I thought my head was going to explode at the top of the QOM, but some angel gave me a bottle with cold water and I took off down the descent behind a motor home.  At one point, drafting off the motor home, I looked at my speed on the power tap and it said 57!  Geez!  Before getting to the finish, I got harassed by some hicks in a pickup truck.  I was riding in the road, but there was plenty of room to pass me, when someone came up behind me really close and just starting laying on the horn.  The truck passed me, and I proceed to flip them off.  Maybe being sassy isn’t always such a good idea, because the guy slammed on his breaks.  I buzzed around him on the other side and just kept racing.  He drove by me again, laying on the horn, and buzzing me.  Then I noticed the cross hanging from his rear view mirror…such a good man of the book…

Well, I won.  First W of the year.  It sure is a relief to know I can climb right now, so one more hard stage race next weekend, a weekend off, and then time for Gila!  Eck!

than a broken body, that is.

This weekend was my first NORBA National of the year, and it was just my luck, that the only stage race format in the NORBA series for the whole season was this weekend in my backyard.  Too bad I have this pesky thing called a job, which means I usually can’t race on Fridays.  So I skipped Friday’s Super D race, and they gave me a DNF for that stage.  I hate DNFing, so please note that it was a DNS. 

Saturday’s race was the short track.  I am notoriously bad at short track, and I have never managed to finish a pro short track race without getting pulled…UNTIL THIS WEEKEND!!  Yes, so I had dead last call-up due to my DNS in the Super D, and I figured I could only move up from there.  I positioned myself in a good place to get to the double-track, and when the gun went off, I basically just closed my eyes and dove through half the field.  By the time I got to a place where I could actually settle in a go hard, the fast groups were forming up ahead, and I had to claw my way through groups of people that were dropping off by myself.  I kept moving up and never got passed.  It was great, and I was excited to show off my best fitness ever starting the MTB season.  All those miles on the road are really paying off.

Sunday’s cross country did not go so well.  The call-up was based on UCI points for the year, of which I have none, zip, zilch.  Anyways, the start was a cluster as everyone was fighting to get to the single track in a good position.  Unlike the short track, I was not so successful this time at moving through the field.  So in the singletrack, I started making really aggressive passes to move up to the top twenty.  In the middle of one such pass, I accidentally hooked the booty of the girl in front of me (who did not want me to pass I think) and went down hard.

The first thing I noticed when I stood up was the massive cholla stuck into my leg.  Now I have had cholla bites before, and I have seen some nasty ones on other people, but this was the worst I have ever seen.  I don’t have a picture, so you will have to take my word for it.  (Some Japanese reporter took a photo of it at the EMT tent, so feel free to browse the Internet endlessly for it.  I’m not going to bother.)  It was in there so deep, that when I tried to pry it out, I couldn’t even wiggle it.  I thought to myself - ah whatever, keep racing - but the next thing I noticed was that my handlebars had twisted in the crash, and that my brand new beautiful bike was BROKEN!!!  :-(  The bottom of the shifter had crossed over the top tube, there was no clearance between the two, and the shifter had punctured a hole right through the carbon.  I had to take the stem off to get the wheel straight again.  It was at that point that I realized I had to DNF.  Yes, this time it was a real DNF.  I set the wheel straight, and went to get on the bike only to discover that there was cholla in my saddle, so I also managed to get some cholla bites in my ass.  Luckily I caught myself before they went in too far.

Well, needless to say, I raced cross country for five minutes, spent nearly thirty minutes having cholla removed from my calf, and need a new frame.  I’m really bummed out about the bike, but in the end, I would much rather break the bike than my body.  The bike can be replaced, and I can keep racing this season.  Not such a bad ending after all.

Next weekend, I’m off to strut my stuff at the state crit championships and the Superior road race.  It’s less than a month from Tour of the Gila, and I’m getting some good form.  Look out Silver City.

But my new Specialized S-Works hardtail mountain bike is pretty much the best ride ever.

Did I mention the cactus on the wall.  Yes, it glows in the dark.

The bike is still better.

No, I did not paint the cactus.

A huge thanks to Specialized and Bicycle Haus for the sweet new ride!

I’m off to Phoenix tomorrow to race the NORBA National.  I should be there now, but I skipped the Super D because I had to teach.  The young ones have so much to learn from me…ha.

PS - Hey Curtis, maybe I’ll have some sweet pics for you on the new bicicleta this weekend.