Redland's Oak Glen - A Rider's View
 
OK. Today was a much, much better day than yesterday. The turn-around was a voicemail from my coach telling me to race my own race, not to worry about what anyone else does and to not compare myself to anyone else. I'm a sponge for negative emotions, and I really felt terrible for Jen. She was so bummed because she got sick and had to drop out after coming all this way to race. We all had a totally sucky day yesterday, and I have a hard time staying positive when it all seems so bleak. But today the sun was shining, my coach told me to be selfish and not worry about how anyone else was feeling, and that was all the permission I needed. Call it crazy, but it worked.

Another really positive thing was having the mechanic for Vaniqua/Red 5, Matt Fallon, offer to rub some lotion and oil on my legs before the race. Man, that stuff ROCKED! It was kind of cold this morning, and the heat from that stuff lasted the whole race. It kind of burned at times, but my legs felt great.

And finally, Jen gave one great piece of advice before she left this morning, and that was to hang on for dear life after the first climber sprint because getting dropped with 50+ miles to go would really make for a long day. As we started up the climb, I was halfway back in the pack and as the grade got steeper, I could see little gaps starting to form up ahead. I gave everything I could to go around as many people as I could before the top, but still face a quickly opening 10m gap at the line. I waited for the group behind me, and about 6 or 7 of us chased really hard into the wind, rotating and sharing the work really well. Another group joined us after a few miles, and together we managed to close the gap in about 10 miles.

Phew.

The rest of the day was a nice group ride, since there was a break up the road. Dede Barry and Ina Teutenberg were at it again, and no one seemed to excited to chase. We rode steadily for most of the race, although I ended up in the gutter a couple times in the crosswind. At about mile 70, the break was still up the road, but the marshalls led them off course. The field was neutralized while the referee re-established the time gap. That was a really nice break. Then, pretty soon, it was time to start the finishing climb.

This is where I learned to never trust the elevation profile in the race bible. It looked like the first few miles shouldn't be too steep, while the last 2 miles were the steepest. Well, let me tell you, that first part of the climb was pretty bad-ass. I lost contact with the pack immediately and just ground my way up the bottom part in my 39-25. I kept telling myself to stand for 50 pedal strokes and then I could sit. Stand until the 5K sign and then sit.

Stand until the schoolbus. Little achieveable goals. On a very short descent near 3K to go, I was joined by Dede Barry who was hurting pretty badly after two days of breakaway action. I was kind of star-struck to be in such company, and probably annoyed her by telling her as much... I was just happy to have anyone to ride with.

So there, on the results, right ahead of Dede, there I am, 41st place, only 12:30 down from Genevieve Jeanson. Genevieve put in a truly epic performance, being a minute down from the break coming into the final climb and winning by over three minutes in just 5 miles. Unreal.

I'm psyched to be up to 48th place now, although it will be really hard to hold onto that in the next three stages, especially in the criterium on Saturday.

But, I'll just listen to what my coach told me and take one race at a time.

Thanks to everyone who e-mailed wishing me luck. You have no idea how much that helps.

Until next time...

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