I woke up to snow on the ground this morning.  And I am sitting in a cafe on the internet because mine at home is down…again.  Grumpy?  Yeah, grumpy.

Enough said.

-M

RBC

Well, I finally conquered the Sunset circuit race. Hot damn. It has been my nemesis for years, and this year I couldn’t let it get the best of me yet again. Redlands had been going pretty well for me, until I felt like crap in the crit, so I wasn’t so sure how Sunset would go for me. On Sunday, though, my legs were feeling good, and amazingly enough, I made the front selection the first time over the climb, and again the 2nd lap, and the 3rd lap and so on and so on. Don’t get me wrong, my group had to do some chasing every now and then when Mara or Amber would totally cane us up the climb, but we managed to hold it together until we caught the 2 early race breakaway companions, Ina and Felicia Gomez. As I watched them come into sight, I knew that a hard attack would be coming soon. Sure enough, Mara and Amber were the first off the front with Kori and Kim Anderson quick to join them on the descent. This group of 4 quickly grew a good lead that stayed away til the finish. Myself and Lauren were happy to sit in the chasing group, feeling good that Kori could easily take the win. With 1km to go, I started the lead out for Lauren, and was all smiles when she held off Oenone on the line. Those smiles quickly faded when I learned that Kori had not won the race, but rather crashed with just 200 METERS to go and broke her collarbone. OUCH! Total bummer for her - just taking a corner too hot when her back wheel hit a bump that made it skip and sent her and her bike flying. I hear it was pretty spectacular. At least she wasn’t in so much pain that she couldn’t ride her bike across the finish line for 4th place, keep the green jersey and help the TEAm move into 3rd team GC. She’s one tough cookie…watch out Tyler.

While we didn’t get that elusive stage win, we all rode hard, kept Kori in green, had fun with our host families, and thoroughly enjoyed the nice CA weather (ok, the smog wasn’t great but the temps sure were nice). And our last night out was pretty fun, too. A few beers, good company, strawberries and chocolate chips (you’ll have to ask TJ about that) can make anyone forget about the pain in their legs.

Again, don’t forget to check out www.deltavelo.com for race videos and links to race photos. It really is nice to see footage of women’s racing for a change!

Now I’ve had 2 days off the bike and it might turn into 3 if it’s going to rain tomorrow. An easy hour ride in the rain isn’t my idea of fun my first day back on the bike after a hard tour.

Go Ohio State!! Normally they would be the first team I would like to see lose but since my Badgers are out I should root for the Big Ten. But, can anyone tell me what the hell a “buckeye” is? Even after being a student athlete in the Big Ten, I still can’t tell you the answer to that question. Then again, what’s worse, being a “buckeye” or a “pretzel”? One of the high schools in my conference (waaaay back when) was the Freeport Pretzels. I am sorry, but what the???

Oh, I have recently discovered a killer warm-up song by the Dropkick Murphy’s called “I’m Shipping up to Boston” from “The Departed” soundtrack. Maybe Ciaran can teach us all how to do the Irish jig to this song…

-Meredith

A bad day, that is. And, dammit if I didn’t have mine today. My legs were having none of it today, zip, zilch. Ok, I did do some work on the front but I didn’t feel like I contributed enough. It just wasn’t meant to be for me, but the past is the past now and I have to look forward to tomorrow’s nasty and daunting Sunset RR. In all the year’s that I have been coming to Redlands (this is my 6th year here), this stage has kicked my butt, BUT tomorrow will be different, I am sure of it. Right. Let’s hope anyway.

A big positive from today’s crit is that Kori kept the green jersey and, since there are no points on the line tomorrow, it is secure. And Brenda got us a top 10. Well done. Now we’ll go in kicking and screaming tomorrow to get ourselves into the decisive break that we keep missing.

Buenos noches.

-MM

Stage 1 of the Redlands Bicycle Classic was a leg burner. It flat out hurt, like hell. With the addition of 2 QOM’s, plus the prestigious Oak Glen climb, it was going to be a day for the climbers and they didn’t fail to impress. Shortly after the first QOM, a strong break went up the road, which proved to be the strongest break of the day, holding off the competition until just several km’s before the finish. Katheryn Curi attacked the break at the base of Oak Glen and then smashed the climb. Only her teammates, Mara and Christine, and Amber were able to catch her. Mara went on to win the stage, Amber rolled across the line for 2nd, and Christine rounded off the podium in 3rd. After a long day off the front, Katheryn dug deep for an impressive 4th place finish. A very impressive day for the Webcor girls.

The climbers may have dominated the final results for the stage, but it was our girl, Kori, who brought home the green jersey. Kori won the first sprint and was 2nd in the next sprint, which gave her more than enough points to don the green jersey going into stage 3’s downtown criterium. Green looks good on her and we will work hard to keep that green jersey on her back until this race is over!

Other notes from Redlands - last night our host family provided a wonderful Mexican style dinner for all of us.  We had a great time relaxing, laughing and sharing stories.  Most of all we laughed our heads off at anecdotes Jack amused us with about Kori’s quirks and obsessions at home.  What made us laugh most about these stories is that we, being her teammates, have all experienced first hand her odd and comical behaviors.  It was easy to imagine exactly what Jack was describing.  For example, the way she follows Jack around the house like a herding dog - she did this to me just the other day; how Jack had to lay down the law by telling Kori that work is over at 5pm, period, or else he might find her hanging laundry at 2am or fixing her bike at 3am;  how she’ll perpetually sit down in the middle of a TV show and then ask so many questions that everyone else misses what’s happening next; when she seems grumpy, is crying, or pissed off, give her food or put her to sleep and everything will be fine; how she analyzes things until you go bezerk and enough is enough…and on and on and on.  But we love her!  She’s our green fightin’ machine!

And our host dad, Jim, was on a roll with his Team Liktom jokes (that’s his version of Lipton for  his dogs - funny, right?  uh, no).  He loves his lazy Labs so much that everything turns into a dog/Lab joke of some sort, funny in a very stupid kind of way.  The kind of joke that makes you roll your eyes and say ha, ha, ha just to appease the person.  His funniest joke of the night didn’t involve furry things, but is one that his wife, Sue, is sick and tired of hearing, though.  He says that in his house he is a mushroom.  His 3 daughters and wife keep him in the dark and feed him nothing but shit.  Now that I find pretty darn funny.

Finally, I’d like to pass along a link to some pretty cool race videos.  The site is www.deltavelo.com.  Right now there is some cool footage from Fresno and soon there will be more added from Redlands.  The videographer uses unique angles to portray the speed and technical side of racing (esp from the crit) and chooses footage that reveals the highlights of the races.  And they know how to pick the right music, too.  Check it out.

Go Green!

-MM

Thankfully that damn prologue is out of the way!! TEAm Lipton didn’t have such a stellar day today, but we are just 11 minutes into 3 more days of racing and many things can happen. Whatever happened to us today, we know that we can turn it around so watch out for something positive to happen from us.

In the meantime, our newly recognized type A teammate, BRENDA (who refuses to believe that she is anything close to being an A - HELLLOO!), will take good care of us. Since our other triple type A isn’t here, that would be Kristin, it’s Brenda’s job to keep us in line. I am sure that she will have plenty of help from the other type A’s, Lauren and Kristen, so we will be well taken care of.

Just a few minutes away from the start of Grey’s Anatomy so I better go claim my spot on the couch.

Mmm, McDreamy…

-Meredith