Dalai

Any learnings made and can be rectified for the next ITT? If so then it was worth the pain...

valygrl

Yeah, I'm hoping for some insight from my coach.

Today went better:

Salida Crit, SW3, raced with the P12, 13 in my race 10 in the P12 race. 3rd / SW3 (8th/23 overall, not a 'result' but something I'm happy with)

I really like this technical figure eight course with a slight grade in the long direction. This was my first crit as a 3, and it was fast and safe with good lines and good cornering and no newbie B.S. in the pack. It was also a lot faster. My plan was conserve (i.e., hang on!) and try to be there at the sprint. I experienced the full force of "if you aren't moving up you're moving back" and tried every part of the course to move up - except the long uphill back straightaway, which weirdly enough was a great place to recover and still not lose any ground). Some worked better than others. At the end I was in the lead pack but not close enough to the front, and I sprinted to pass one Cat 3 on the long slightly downhill finishing leg. I only saw one Cat 3 ahead of me, but it turned out that another had gone away in a 2 woman break that I didn't see (I suspected it based on the hard pace, but didn't know who was up there). Too bad, but I wouldn't have been able to do anything else anyway, it was hard enough out of the wind, the front would have been a total waste of energy.

I'm happy with the result, and how I raced.

sarals 

Valygrl, I love your attitude! I can feel the fun, as well as the satisfaction. I really like that you race with your head, and within yourself. I'm quite proud of how you've progressed this season! Congratulations on a great race.

sarals 

Double whammy. Don't I know that feeling!!

revchuck 

Way to go, valygrl!

shovelhd

Valygrl, congrats on the upgrade. I think I missed it. Now that you're racing with the best you will want to refine your racecraft. This is something that gives great reward for small changes. Have fun.

valygrl

Thanks Sara!

Shovel, thanks... Did you have an observation? Don't be shy!

shovelhd

You should be proud of how you raced. You did very well for your first dip into the deep end if the pool. You pretty much figured out what you would have done differently. By sitting in the back you missed the winning break going and gave yourself a long and hard task of moving up in the field. The things you will want to work on are lining up at the front and hitting it hard at the start. Learning to fight for wheels and move incrementally through it to stay near the front. I suspect you didn't see much of that in the W 3/4 fields. Talk to your coach about it.

LAJ

Nicely done, valygrl! Race well today, and be safe.

valygrl

thanks for the thoughts shovel. i think i need more fitness to execute that in the field combined with the P12s, but certainly food for thought.

Thanks LAJ.

Todays RR was incredibly hard, 5 laps of a hilly 5.7 mile circuit (2100 feet in 27 miles) it was hot, I had an asthma attack on lap 2 then got dropped on the climb on lap 3. worked with a couple other stragglers to come in 9th of 10. ouch. i failed on my nutrition this weekend and I'm sure that played a role. I just couldn't eat, for some reason. Hate it when that happens.

revchuck 

Dang, valygrl, sounds like Murphy was in your back pocket yesterday.

sarals 

Valygrl, s**t happens, or so they say. My take from your weekend was the incredible success you had in the crit. Put that one in your pocket! The other two were part of the learning curve, but hey, you hit the high points on both of them. What I really like is the "steady as she goes" mental approach that you take with you. That is awesome.

AzTallRider

Sorry you had a bad race, but you're a stud Valygrl.

LAJ

You had an upside to an otherwise tough weekend, valygrl. Hang your hat on that, and be ready for the next one. Looks like some pesky hill climbs next. Are you going to go after some of that nonsense?

valygrl

thanks everyone. I'm not super bummed about it, I put full effort into it and will learn what I can from it - coach will comment on my notes for sure.

LAJ I'm not doing the HCs, those just play to all my weaknesses and require travel and are very expensive to boot. I'll do the last couple of crits, then Steamboat and Masters Nats and I'll be ready to just ride for fun after mid-September.

Recovery week starts today. I need it!

IBOHUNT

Good job Valygrl. For the ITT - Hope it gets better for you. I've been told that one has to be touched in the head a bit for those to be "fun".

Cleave

valygrl, you are a racing animal this year. Love how you're doing a little bit of everything and having fun and success doing it.

Cleave

"Raced" the Sherman Pass Road Race this past Saturday. 53 miles, 8,700 ft of climbing (advertised), 9,400 ft of climbing (measured). I finished. Breathing became a higher priority than pedaling when I got above 7,500 ft of elevation. Race finished at 9,100 ft of elevation. Maximum sustainable power for the last 16 miles was about 125 watts. At a weight of 148 lbs, you can guess my climbing speed on 6% grades.

Glad I did it. Wish I could have actually raced.

Hermes

I heard from one of the 50+ women that the race was hard.

The guys who ran our training camp in AZ said that above 7500 feet, we get power limited - just not enough O2. So no matter how hard you try, the power is not there. I found that to be true on the Mount Lemmon climb.

tetonrider

finally got back to racing again...in oregon, with some young bucks in the cat 2 race. posted a report here.

LAJ

Very well done, Cleave. Altitude is tough if you aren't used to it.

Amazing job, tetonrider.

Hermes

I purchased some of the chain lube that Cleave uses and now my chain and drive train sparkles. However, I cannot climb or TT now.

sarals 

Albany Crit, Cat 4 Ladies

This one went pretty well, but I didn't finish it. I had a "discussion" with the mentor while on the course about my "corning lines", and I got pissed and pulled off after five or six laps (don't remember). I talked to the mentor after the race to find out what was bothering her about my bike skills. It turns out that she became concerned because I would change my lines in corners. She was worried there could be a crash. I understood her concerns, asked her if I caused anyone to bobble, and she said no, but there was potential. I told her that corners were opportunities to move up, I knew who was around me, and I was not going to chop any wheels - and that, this was a RACE, not a fast group ride. She understood, and asked me to be aware of who I was racing with. Checkmate. I asked her if I was guilty of lateral moves. "No". Well, then, good!

The course was technical, but fun. I was having to work pretty hard to stay in the 14 rider field, but because I was able to move up when I needed to, and pretty easily, I was confident I'd do okay. There were seven prime laps, and in the five or six laps I did I was aware of three! That small field ALL chased primes, so I had little shelter when they were doing that, it was wearing me down.

Still, it was fun. Average speed was 20.2 MPH, so it wasn't slow!

AzTallRider

Should have head-butted her, Sara. e-gads.

IBOHUNT

Sara - I do think that a competition entails taking advantage of every opportunity afforded to you as long as you aren't putting others at risk
You held your composure during the "discussion". You made your point and sounds as if the mentor finally got it without the recommended head butt. Well done but next time do the head-butt. Would make a better read