Chandra aka Chanditty-Licious Reports from Copperopolis!

For starters.......WHAT A RACE!!!!! I�m not quite sure where I want to start. Well, I guess I can skip all the pre race blah blah blah, and jump right into the race. There were about 20 Cat 4 women on the line and three of them being Norcal Hotties, Tanya (T), Denise, and myself. I had noticed a couple racers that looked familiar from previous races. Mixed feelings from the start.

On your mark.

Get set.

GO! And we are off. We make the first left hand turn onto the start of crappy roads, with only more to follow. I ride pretty conservative and cautious as we make these slight climbs (I was in no mood to crash today). It could not have been more than five miles into the race when I looked back to see what was going on behind us, and noticed we had started to make a gap in the group. There were ten girls in this front pack, including T and I, so I informed the other eight girls that we had broken away from the other racers, and told them to pick it up at least one mile an hour to widen the gap.

Sweeeeeet. We are racing now. Time to crack the whip on this group. I suggested we trade off the work load with a rotating pace line. No one complained and everyone took 30 second pulls. We worked well together.Somewhere around mile 15 (before the big descent to finish the FIRST LAP) I noticed we were only six deep. Fine by me. We all can place. And I tell them that. �If we work together for the next lap we can all place. So eat and drink!� Then there were six. (including T and I). I needed them as much as they needed me.

I felt good and noticed the descent approaching. I went for it. No brakes needed. But I did feel like I was going to rattle off my bike. Five of us regroup as we pass the start finish line to take the first left hand turn again. Shoot, I have to do ALL of that AGAIN, is what I thought to myself. (Side note, 20 miles of Copperopolis could have been a race, 40 miles was just enough for me, more than that would be down-right crazy. I would have had to find some higher power to get me through any additional laps.)

KABOOM goes one of the riders tires. Right in my ear, I might add! Now there were four. (Mariam - Vella Bella, Deb-Left Coast, T and I). We climb, climb, and climb some more, only now my quads are feeling it. Just as I was thinking we were soft pedaling a little too much, here comes Davis (Emily is her name. She was just in a Davis kit). �Look at you, sneaky,� I say to her. Crap, I think to myself, now were are back to five. I asked if she noticed anyone in sight behind her, she said nope. I suggested we pick it up a little.

A little more than half way through the second lap and Im tired, we are all tired. I no longer wanted to pull, no one really wanted to pull anymore. I actually wanted to grab a hold of their saddles to sling shot myself forward. Right then and there I needed to change my thinking. Positive self talk I told myself. Just as the five of us realize we were all getting tired we approach a climb. Im fifth. Crap. I know there will be that sweet descent soon, but it was not soon enough. T and the three other racers rode up the hill. The hill separated us evenly. Meaning there were a lot of feet between first place and me, fifth. The descent. SWWWEEEETTTT. I need to make up ground here. NOW. GO CHANDRA, GO GO GO GO GO GO. Im flying in the most aero position I can be in without my chin getting too close to my stem. I did not want to be visiting a Forni for dental work. (The descent is also the crappiest road on the course.) I see Emily - Davis Kit. I snuck up on her, drafted for a second then stood up to sprint past her so she could not get on. I looked back to see if she was following and she was not. OK, THE RACE IS IN FRONT OF YOU NOT BEHIND YOU, I tell myself. GO. It was not until the 1 km marker, which was not that much after I passed Davis, where I was able to sprint up to Deb - Left Coast and tell myself �I want this more then her! I want / need the points, I don�t want another fourth place finish.�

Third place secured. I look ahead and see T and Mariam - Velo Bella fighting for first. So I know now I just need to keep a gap between fourth place and myself. 200 to go. I sprint up the final hill. WWOOOAAAHHHHH I FINISHED, and DID WELL........ I can�t quite describe the joy I had. What a race. I AM SOOOOO PROUD OF ALL MY NORCAL HOTTIES. :) I will definitely be there next year.

Top 10s All Round

This is such a hard race, you gotta be so tough just to show up! I knew that Tanya, Chandra, and Denise could put the hurt on, and this was the perfect place to prove it. Im the one they drop like a brick on the Team Rides, so I was curious to see how they stacked up in this race. Yeah, they pretty much stack up. 2nd, 3rd, and 8th in one of the hardest races on the calendar? Needless to say, I was over-the-moon at the finish, slapping butts and planting kisses.

Meanwhile, in my race, the 50+ers where laying down the law, proving how a woman can kick ass in this sport for decades.

-Claire

2008

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