thehappycat.net

Current Mood: Happy

This past weekend was the Barrio Logan in San Diego. It’s nice to have races that don’t take forever to drive to occasionally. But before I talk about Barrio I also did two other races in the previous weekends as well as some other things happening in life.

So firstly, my day to day riding has been limited significantly. Back in early February Brandon asked me to marry him and we were planning a small wedding for July. In April we decided we would try and rent a house since out lease was nearing its end at our current residence. Upon looking at places to rent, we decided we’d rather buy something. We both have decent incomes, have some cash saved up, and are established enough in our lives to make this kind of move. I mean we’re old, it’s not like we’re just starting out in life as some just out of college couple!

As we started our house hunt and worked on getting our loan pre-approval we realized we could get a much better loan amount and rate if we were married. So on April 14th 2011 we eloped… We eloped for a loan for a house… Yes, not the most romantic of things but it was the most economical choice which we both agreed on! So Brandon is no longer boyfriend but husband!

We have since found a house we like and are currently in the process of trying to purchase it. Hopefully all goes well, it is quite the “process”.

Anyways, with all the above stuff that’s been going on, and some crappy San Diego weather, I have not been riding much!

So maybe 3 weeks ago was the Cyclo-vets crit. I think I had only rode my bike once in the week before and that was on the track. Pretty sure that was my first real workout on the track too so my legs were sore. It was a 3/4 race around an easy course in Sorrento Valley. Race-wise this was the most comfortable I’ve felt in a crit because I trusted all the girls around me. However, this was also a 40 minute crit, 10 minutes longer than any of the ones I had done before (on top of not riding much). It was mentally brutal for me because I was gassed fast and my legs were slow feeling do to the track. It’s been so long I can’t remember much else from it other than somehow I pulled off a 3rd place finish amongst the Cat4′s.

The next week I went with Alison to the LA Circuit race. I can’t tell if I liked this race or not… I believe it was a 4 mile loop with two 180 turns. I hadn’t rode the bike since the Cyclo-vets crit so I expected little. It was a frustrating race because no one would make a move, we were riding around at like 16mph. I tried 2x time make a break but no luck, so I just stayed near the front of the pack the entire boring ride. I chit chatted a bit and one girl made a comment about it but I said if we’re only going to go this fast we needed to do something to kill the time. She laughed. It was only on the last turn that it really picked up and I screwed up big time. Sprinted WAY too early and was not able to maintain it the distance needed so I just gave up and think I got 20th. It was a good sprint if I didn’t go like a freaking MILE early! :P

Since then I’ve been able to ride a bit more thankfully. So last weekend was the Barrio Logan. Our race wasn’t until 4:30pm. Poor Brandon had to listen to me all day be wishy-washy on whether I was going to go or not. It looked crappy out and it was so late I kinda wanted to just stay home. We went out and did house stuff for the first half of the day. An by 1:30 I decided I should do the race seeing as I had already paid for it.

So I packed up my shit and we headed down to a gross area of San Diego. At a bunch of the races I’ve been too, people feel comfortable leaving their trainers out by their  cars when they race… Not here, it is a super scummy area.

I warmed up on the trainer for a bit and watched the W1-3 and the M3/4 races until it was our turn.

The field was SMALL! The results only list 11 people. I thought there were a few more but I can’t imagine anyone dropped off.

This is a figure 8 course meaning 8 turns and there was a pretty decent headwind on the back half. For the most part the street was “good” but there were several reflectors and a couple of bumps here and there. I stayed towards the front the majority of the race. I know people say not to do this but as slow as we were going I felt like I was coasting half the time. I tried to make a break on the backside a few times and I believe a little group of us got away for a bit. We tried to work together to maintain but were brought back after awhile. A few more unsuccessful breaks were attempted and pretty much we just did the hamster thing the entire race. I don’t think I ever fell much behind 4th so I’m not sure what was going on towards the rear.

Interestingly when I was going through some of the photos from Cyclo-vets I was looking at my pedal position while going through turns. It was “close” to the ground but all the turns felt comfortable so I didn’t worry about it. Three days before Barrio I bought some new pedals… better pedals… potentially wider pedals?!… I clipped twice while making turns. The first time it happened it didn’t even occur to me, I just heard a weird noise. The second time I barely felt it but then it dawned on me. Checking out the pedal after the race you can definitely see where I shaved off the edge. I figure now that it’s shaved down sufficiently it won’t be a problem in the future!

Anyways, it was only on the last lap where the pace picked up. Again I stayed towards the front and out of the final turn I instantly popped in front and sprinted. I felt pretty good at this point and maintained my position all the way until like 5 inches from the finish! Oh well, considering I was debating not even racing, I’m happy with 2nd!

Oh, I also won a prime! Not a nasty sushi-poppers one this time! It was a gift certificate to a place called Heaven Sent Desserts! Now, looking at the photos of me compared to the other girls… I really don’t need to be eating desserts… But I’m still going to use the gift certificate, lol. Then maybe I should stop eating desserts and maybe I’ll get first… /sigh food.

Current Mood: Cool

Tomorrow I leave for Arizona… again.

This time I’ll be in Tucson with both my TT and road bike. My jeep is so handy. Two bikes, one on each side with luggage, trainer, work stand, and whatever else down the center. And now that I’ve discovered cruise control, a 6-7 hour drive doesn’t seem as bad. Plus this time I get to listen to my own music, the entire way!

With the added benefit of the time change, I should actually arrive with sunlight left! Very exciting. Even more exciting is meeting up with the rest of my new team, DudeGirl. It will be nice to have teammates this time to share the experience with.

Brandon just got back home yesterday, so that’s kind of a bummer to bail for the weekend right off the bat but he’s a package of supportive awesomeness and is excited for me.  As he cannot leave with me on Thursday he may try and fly out Friday night to watch the rest of the race and drive back together. I’m hopeful this works out but also would be fine if he chooses to take the weekend to himself to recuperate from his 3 weeks away from home.

So tonight is go home, grab some travel foodage, clean the bikes, last minute laundry, and Brandon time.

The Friday race doesn’t start until noon so plenty of sleep in time with no urgent rushing to get to the race. That’s a nice way to start. Saturday and Sunday are awful early though… Saturday is like 7am and 30 minutes away from the hotel while Sunday is at like 6:45!!! Sunday is only perhaps 2 miles from our hotel tho. While racing that early kinda stinks it will provide ample time to get back to the hotel, shower, and hopefully be on the road to home no later than 10-11am! Back in San Diego with sunlight to spare again!

As before the goal is to stay safe and do my best. It will be my third time on my TT bike so I just don’t want to be last. And I’d really love a crash free race for everyone, especially after Callville.