Claires Report

What a complete and utter suffer-fest. What kind of sicko would subject themselves? If you have no talent and no will to train, DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS SPORT!!!

Ill try to report on what I would really like to forget. It went something like this:

Sarah took the lead with Stella and Colleen on her wheel. I took Colleens wheel and tried to be there, but was dropped after half a lap. Dang it. Cant I even suck wheel properly? Then Lauren passes me. A lap later the Webcor girl passes me. Finally Kathleen passes me. I recover somewhat and come back to Kathleen, but the Eye of the Tiger is sealed shut. I dangle off the back like that for 1/2 a lap and finish maybe 15 or 20 seconds behind her.

Seriously, this race was demoralizing so I guess I better go out next weekend and try again. (See??? Only some kind of sicko...)

Ellas Report

This whole "every-other-weekend-racing" is just enough to keep me looking nice in the tight khakis I am forced to wear at my fancy restaurant job, but not enough to make it not hurt. Does that make sense? The point is, at the FIAC National Championships this weekend in Watsonville, IT HURT.

I am quite fond of the Watsonville fairgrounds as a race venue. The course for this race was flat and fast with a couple of fun off-camber turns and climbs and a couple mildly technical sections. There were only three sets of barriers (and one of them was just one barrier, on a very flat, grassy section of the course) but what the course lacked for on the pain-scale with the technical stuff and the barriers, it made up for with the run-ups. Watsonville has a legendary (in my mind, anyway) run-up that is nearly vertical and seems to go on forever, which is about 100 yards.

The girls in my race did 5 laps, and by the 5th time I came up that thing, just barely running, I literally couldnt even see when I got back on my bike and had to trust that the saddle would be there. Luckily there was a flat, grassy section right there which a lot of people used to recover and which I used to put the hurt on my opponents and arch-nemesis, the Velo Bellas. (Okay, the VBs arent really my arch-nemesis, but its fun to try and beat them because there are just so MANY of them!)

There were also several flat sections which made me happy, as I was able to turn it up there and leave the smaller girls literally in the dust (it was hot!) once I gathered up some momentum. I have to say that I raced harder here than I think I ever have, which is good. Usually I finish races and people tell me I look too calm; yesterday I finished and my friends (who have all been doing this for years, unlike newbie me) looked at me and said, "Wow, Ella actually RACED today!"

I was very happy with my 5th place finish and plan to cut it out with this every-other-weekend half-assed racing and start racing my bike EVERY weekend.

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004