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