I know you were all wondering why I was absent from the weekend and holiday rides...but at least I was riding my bike! I went to the Bay area for the weekend to do some visiting and riding, and a little bit o racing, too. Saturday was dirt (mountain, on a retro NO suspension mountain bike...), Sunday was a little warm up ride, and today was il Giro di San Francisco, a fun little crit held near fisherman's wharf.
And contrary to most San Francisco weather, today was beautiful, with not a cloud in the sky, and warm temps! It was a great day for a bike race.
About 18 people toed the line for my race, which was a straight W3. I recognized some of the folks from various races of the past, and knew there were some strong girls in attendance. I was the only so-cal
representative. The course was a 6 corner L-shaped course. The pavement was a bit bumpy, but it was a fun course, one little power bump, 2 downhill turns, and a wide safe course.
My race started pretty mellow, but there were lots of primes so things went crazy early. Having no teammates, I was just patrolling the race, sitting around and not doing too much. I went for the Rudy Project
glasses prime....but alas some girl decided to nearly take me out, and I had to sit up. It had the effect of making me angry...and I continued to be angry every time I had to brake in those downhill turns!
People were getting too excited about sprinting, and there was some sketchy behavior. I ended up not really worrying about the primes, just about not getting taken out. Anyway, partway through a girl got a little gap
but no one seemed to be worried so I just sat. Sure enough, she couldn't hang, and got swooped up 2 laps later. With 3 to go, a few people tried some attacks, and it was easy to cover everything.
Then the NorCal series leader attacked, and she looked strong. I went, and quickly got her back. I sat on with 2 to go, and when the pace got high, I noticed people hurting. Surprisingly, my legs were just waking
up and I felt really good. I decided to go for it. I was third wheel around the 1st downhill corner, and then on the last corner, I opened it up and took the inside line hard. Second wheel attacked, but since I was inside, I had a clear line, and I just stood up and went around her and never looked back. Just like SLO, I was still accelerating over the line (only this one was slightly uphill).... I kept it on full gas, waiting to see someone challenging, but it never happened, and I won!
After the race, I was chatting with some of the racers, who I must say were all very friendly and nice. I asked one girl how she did and she said she finished third. Then she quickly added, "but I was WAY behind you....when you went it was like I was standing still". I guess I won by 3-4 bike lengths. I would have done the 1-2-3 race, but I had a 5.5 hour drive ahead of me, and I needed to get on the road.
Anyway, I am now declaring my road season OVER! I didn't race too much this year, but I am thrilled with the way things have ended up. A couple easy weeks, and then it's on to CYCLOCROSS!!!!!! Bring it on!
Happy Labor Day! I saw a couple of Echelon riders up there, as well as
Aaron Long. I left before his race so I don't know how he ended up.
Jeannette Candau of Echelon (who just started racing this year, and bought my old race bike...) won the W4 race in grand style as well, so the locals showed those NorCal folks we are strong!
Cheers,
Kimberly
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