We pulled into Redlands yesterday under overcasts skies and cool temps. We’ve been spoiled the last couple of weeks with the type of weather that everyone hopes for in CA - blue skies and temps in the 80’s - so I can say that I was definitely in a funk because I had to put jeans on instead of lounging shorts. Oh well, I didn’t have much to do yesterday besides play with our new doggie friends, lay on the couch for a snooze, and eat dinner with our gracious hosts. Rough life, right?

Today we went crazy and rode our bikes for, oh, an hour and a half. Just enough to get the legs going again after the weekend and for us to scope out the new climbs for Friday’s stage. For many years Redlands had been 6 stages but last year they had to cut the race back to just 3. The stages were still hard and it was a close race to the finish, but of all the stages they cut, the infamous Oak Glen stage was probably missed the most. This year the organizers worked hard to bring this stage back, and they brought it back in a BIG way. Traditionally this stage had been flat, maybe with a few rollers here and there, until the last 7 miles when the road turned up at the bottom of Oak Glen for the punishing climb to the finish on top. This year the organizers are introducing 2 new climbs before we even get to Oak Glen! Talk about a big day!! What are my thoughts after seeing most of the course? I’ll say that the combination of the climbs and wide open roads exposing us to potentially strong winds will likely take some gusto out of the legs before we hit Oak Glen. But, once we hit Oak Glen, it will be every rider for herself. Oak Glen has no sympathy for anyone.

And just because we had some time to kill after our gruelling ride, Lauren and I went for a pedicure. Brenda got her’s yesterday so it was our turn to follow suit. Ahh, what a nice way to spend the afternoon. A little spa and massage action never hurts! Really, it feels so good. And come on, we know that once Thursday rolls around our legs will begin to ache, our minds will be in overdrive thinking about every climb, every acceleration, time gaps, whether we should ride TT bikes with discs, and so on and so on, so a little self indulgence is just what we needed to prepare us for the hard days to come. It’s all in a day’s work.

Now, after stuffing ourselves full on shrimp tacos (thanks to Lauren’s host family’s recipe from Fresno), I think I’ll curl up in bed and finish my book.

In other news, congratulations to Hilton and Jamie on their engagement!!

- MM

Really, I’m not lying.  Here’s the proof.

Yeah baby, brought home the yellow today! The team was awesome - we took control at the front from lap 1 and never did we falter. For the first time in my career I actually got to sit in behind the girls rotating on the front. I never realized how easy that is! I mean, when I started to join the rotation with 3 to go to help leadout Lauren, I started opening gaps because my legs were so fresh. Oops. It was a new but very cool experience for me, and hopefully one that I can revisit sometime. And thanks a ton to my teammates for helping me!!

Now we are off to Redlands tomorrow where we’ll settle into new host housing until we leave CA after the big race - the one that we have all been preparing for these last 3 weeks. The team has settled into a good groove as a unit and hopefully we can make all the pieces fit together once again. Redlands ain’t going to be a walk in the park though. We are going to have to work our butts off for any sort of result since the field is going to be stacked. All the Americans who were overseas are back and firing bullets and several Euros will be here to step up the competition as well. We’ll definitely have our work cut out for us but that’s what makes it all fun.

Yellow rules.

-M&M

So maybe I should have my bike stolen every week since my new one seems to be treating me pretty damn well. In today’s circuit race the plan of attack was to, well, attack, attack, attack until someone got away withOUT Anne in the break. We certainly have the numbers here to make it work and work it did. Kristen was the first to go off the front with one other rider after attacking for the QOM. They were off for several laps until Anne and Kori bridged across. While they were all looking at each other as to who was going to do the work, Jessica was pulling back Lauren who was trying to bridge across and as soon as we came back together I put in a hard attack and got off the front solo. Fortunately for me I blended in with one of the men’s races who had just passed us so I was off and running with hardly a notice from any other women. I opened the gap quickly and after 2.5 laps off the front I crossed the finish line about 1:30 in front of Anne. With the intermediate time bonus and the finish time bonus I collected, I have a nice cushion going into tomorrow’s crit. During the last couple of laps Lauren was also on a solo getaway, her crossing the line about 20 seconds in front of the field which means we are now 1,2 on GC. Sweet. And I have to say this will be the first time I have ever pulled a leader’s jersey over my head and I hope to finish the crit with it still on my back.

Happy St Pat’s Day!! Hope everyone is enjoying some green beer!

-MM

I am the new climber on the team. And I am riding Fuji’s new prototype, superlight frame. Ok, ha ha, joke, joke, joke. Although, I did finish 3rd in the uphill TT in Pomona today and I am riding my new Fuji frame that isn’t painted Lipton colors so it does look like it might be some swanky prototype. I did have our mechanic put compact cranks on my bike and I am loving them!! I highly suggest trying these suckers out….sweet.

Gotta run - my battery is running out while 4 of us are sitting in Lara’s car in the middle of some random street pooching internet. I’m not going to find an outlet anywhere around here.

Ciao!
-Meredith