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