Claire, Lindsay and I went down to Rita's the night before Berkeley Hills. Claire and Rita went out to race EBC and Lindsay and I stayed to make dinner for our returning racers. They did awesome at the crit, working together for a 6th place finish by Claire! June joined us later and we pigged out, watched Superstar and passed out. Berkeley Hills (52 miles) was in the morning.

We had a pretty good turn out of 9 women for the race; Mariko, June, Denise, Lindsay, Anny, Claire, Cathy, Rita and myself. I was really nervous and excited about this race. Everyone had told me that this was my kind of race, (with hills) which made me feel like I really wanted to do well. As we started out on the course I could feel that I was getting bunched into places where I didn't want to be. Cathy, Lindsay, Rita and Claire were way up at the front of the pack and I was trapped on the inside rear. Suddenly as we started to descend Denise started to move to the outside of the pack. Knowing what a great descender she is I leapt at the window and followed her. I was promptly shuttled up to the front. That girl can fly and I felt that giggly rush as I tried to stay on her wheel. The course rolled on with pretty good cross winds at times and I would try to tuck in behind the bigger girls. The group stayed together pretty much until we hit Papa Bear for the first time. Whew! My legs felt like beef jerky and I was nearly shelled off of the main group. I worked to stay on the tail as we headed out for another lap.

I kept watching the orange butts in the front of the pack, knowing that I should somehow work to get up there. As the race went on I started to feel more comfortable about the pack and my legs started to feel familiar. I have come to find that whether I train long distances or not my body tends to like longer distances. I tend to feel good 45 minutes into a ride. I felt good for the 2nd lap and started to feel like I had just figured out where to be in the final lap.

Occasionally Claire would slip back in the group and give me pointers and encouragement. "Superstar!!" I started to really feel like this is where I was supposed to be, nestled in among friends, racing our bikes for fun and helping each other along the way. As we all know, racing is oftentimes more mental than physical and there is power in encouraging words and belief. As we came to Papa bear for the last time  (the hill top finish) I felt like I had put myself in a good spot. I could see Cathy and Rita ahead of me and I couldn't stop myself from cheering for them. As we came to the line I sprinted and passed two of the girls who had been in front of me. I ended up as 8th in the women's 3s. Time to eat and catch up with how everyone else's race went!

I was also really impressed with level of riding in our group. Everyone was courteous with one another pointing out hazards and riding with skill.  My personal hero today was Mariko who raced in the cat 4's was involved in a crash, (someone hit a squirrel) and got back on her bike to finish the race. That race was painful enough without the road injuries. Its often easier to quit. That girls got heart! :)

Also a big Thank you to Russ!!! For being in the feed zone for us and being a part of our support team!

-Jen :)

 ***
Lined up at 8:13 for a prompt start as a 35+ 1/2/3.  Unsure of the size of our field....maybe two dozen gals???

My moment of glory came after a few miles when we were descending San Pablo Road.....I drop like a rock, and scooted ahead of the pack, enjoyingthe feeling while I could.  Then at the first ascent, as it felt like I was standing still while the rest swiftly climbed forward, I thought "well that was that!!,"  and settled in to have a kicker of a workout for 2.7 laps.

As the 4's field passed me up (ouch for the ego!) I noticed Mariko toward the front and felt really proud ("GO NOR CAL!") and then a 5-6 bike crash occurred and she went down as I watched.  I stopped to help out, then rode with her for awhile until we approached the feed zone.  I continued to ride the rest mainly alone, enjoying the scenery and getting a bit quicker as I rode along.

Even though I probably finished last of our field, I'm really glad to have completed this one....and know this full race in my legs will help out for the rest of the season.  It was great being part of the orange and blue squad out there....GOOD JOB EVERYONE!!  Thanks to Russ for being in the feed zone too!!

-Denise

***
Ugh. Woke up late after turning the alarm off. Left home at 5:45 and drove 85+ to get to the race in time to register for our 8:13 start. Fritz finds it noteworthy that I barely had time to put my stuff in the car yet managed to find time to hard boil some eggs. Go figure. No explanation. Got the sweetest parking spot near shade and bathrooms (major bonus).

Started race, 1st lap mellow, except for 3 Bear Climbs. This would end up being the pattern. Stay together on flats, etc. due to nasty wind, hit hit the climbs hard. Ooo, plus some positively RIPPER descents following Claire and little Lindsey Myers. Too bad the windy flat bottoms of descents meant that folks quickly caught us! Field whittled down, Lindsey Meyers attacked at the last long climb after pulling the field for two laps and quickly formed a significant gap. Couldn't counter. Charged later up hill with remaining front of field, 5th in Cat 3. Good job all Nor Cal ladies, but especially JEN for her awesome 8th after a winter of horrible luck and crashes. Also, kudos for Mariko in the 4s for scraping herself off the pavement after being crashed and finishing!

-Cathy

***
This was not the best day I've ever had racing, but it was one that I learned from.  The women's cat 4 race started out well enough, there were a couple girls trying to stay up front that I wanted to be sure to keep my eye on because they were obviously nervous, and as we got underway I managed to stay at 3rd or 4th wheel presumably safe from those that were a little... squirrelly.  As we got to the bottom of the decent my legs were cold from not moving and the first little rise was brutal, but luckily people were still kind of conserving for the climbs to come so I didn't have any trouble staying in with the pack.  On the rollers going towards the first climb I worked my way back towards the front and settled in comfortably at 3rd wheel, it was especially nice to be in the pack because it was windy that day.  Then, as we were approaching the base of the first climb with a Code 3 girl leading the pack, I heard a rather panicked "SQUIRREL" from my right.  Apparently I was so concerned with who was in front of me, that I had put blinders on and completely forgotten that Nervous Nellie was to my right, not my immediate right we were separated by one Code 3 girl, but that was not enough.  After the announcement from Nervous Nellie the clanking started and as I was flying through the air, looking at my bike improperly positioned above my head, I happened to glance to the side of the road just in time to see a small brown squirrel looking a little astounded at the scene before his eyes.

Denise, being the amazing woman that she is, stopped racing and pulled me back together.  I had drug my bike to the side of the road to get out of the way of the juniors who I knew were just behind us, and I was shaking from adrenalin while holding my left arm, that felt awful, while waiting for the shock to wear off so I could assess the actual damage to my body.  I sat there and sadly watched the rest of the shaken but unharmed pack ride off.  Denise was poking and prodding at me, making sure I was legitimately OK, then she got my bike functioning again as I wiggled my fingers and toes.  I was in one piece, but across the road was the poor Code 3 girl that was between myself and Nervous Nellie, he bike was in shambles, jersey shredded, and her knee had a huge hole in it with blood running all down her leg.  I hobbled over to her, made sure she was not in need of any immediate emergency care, fixed her bike, then got back on my bike and pedaled away with Denise by my side coaxing me to ride it out.
 
I finished out the first loop,  but as I got to the top of "Papa Bear" where the finish line ultimately was, I got a nagging curiosity to see the rest of the course (recon for next year), so I rode through to our start point which was about 6 miles latter.  When I got there, I was actually feeling pretty good, and had reeled in a couple other cat 4 girls who had gotten dropped, so I did another lap and finished out the race.  I was bummed because I was feeling so good that day, I wanted to see how well I could hang through the notorious climbs of the race, but alas that was not how it worked out.       

Lesson for the day: watch all around you, not just in front of you (yes, I should know this by now, but it's easy to forget when you have mountains looming in front of you and all you want is a good draft)

-Mariko
***

Had not done this race since my first year of racing as a cat 4.  Why?  Well, generally I try to stay away from races that have the words Hill, Climb, Mount or Mountain, Peak or Pass in them… you get the picture.  Sure, I can get up those darn things, but I don’t know that I’m necessarily good at it.  But we were looking to have a good team turnout for the race, and after all, it is practically in my backyard.  At the very least it would be a good workout.
 
It was fairly windy, even at 8:30 in the morning.  The Masters Women and Women 3s were racing together, although picked separately, and we had about 25 or so in all at the start.  19-year-old phenom Lindsay Myers was in the race, and I knew she would be the one to watch.  So my goal for the day was to stay near her as much as possible.  And I did — for about 2-1/2 laps.  During this entire time, she was pretty much at the front and pulled the field.  Still, I knew she would eventually attack and I thought maybe it would come on Mama Bear in our last lap.  Didn’t quite happen there and instead the attack came after that on a smaller roller.  Unfortunately, at that point I was not right on her wheel and didn’t have a chance to respond immediately.  But Claire made a valiant effort to catch her.  When she came back to the group, it was my turn.  My feeble attempt to chase did not go very far, as I was definitely feeling my legs at that late stage in the race as the road turned slightly upwards.  Back to the group I went.  Needless to say, Ms. Myers soloed to victory.
 
Nevertheless, we had a strong showing with three top-10 finishes in the 3s (Cathy in 5th, me 7th and Jen 8th), and Claire placed 7th in the Masters.  The team had a couple mishaps with Anny’s mechanical in the Women Pro/1/2 race and Mariko involved in a crash in the Women 4s.  But they both finished their respective races.  Way to Go!
 
-rita