A little California Sunshine

Hello all- back from a very brief adventure in southern California!  Matt and I packed up the car Friday afternoon and began the trip south shooting for Vegas.  Got to Vegas and we weren't especially interested in stopping.  It's very hot in the desert.  The record temp reading on our trip was 115 degrees.   Yeah.  We pushed on straight to CA.

We stopped for the night conveniently close to the San Dimas tt course which meant I knew exactly what my pre-race ride was going to be like the next day.  Fun and not at all flat.  It was also hot, but not 115 and the roads were closed to cars which made for a sweet ride up Glendora Mountain Rd to Mt. Baldy village and then down to the Claremont area.  

The rest of Saturday was spent enjoying a delicious meal with east coast friend who just moved out to CA, Robbie King.  Very fun to catch up with him and they were good natured waiting for me to make very difficult decisions when it came to my dessert.  Frozen yogurt with over 20 toppings to choose from...not an easy decision.  If you're interested...in the end, my final combo was vanilla frozen yogurt with brownies, coconut, caramel, and rainbow sprinkles.

Perfect post-ride recovery nutrition

Sunday, woke up fairly early to make it across LA to Manhattan Beach and try to catch the end of Peta's (new friend made at ToAD) race.  Not too much traffic until we got to Manhattan Beach.  Parking... geez.  Unfortunately I missed her finish, but still was able to catch up with her- she's a fun lady.  The Pro Women's field was a little on the smaller side-- there was a large CA contingent with several teams well represented and a handful of solo riders like myself.  There were many gift primes from race sponsors, essentially every lap.  I won a one night stay at the Hyatt- fancy, fancy.  Despite the constant opportunity for primes, the race was a little on the mellow side.  Or maybe a long ride in the mountains works well for my legs before a crit?  More likely, the lack of representation in terms of numbers from big teams, no cash primes, and a fast/wide and non-technical course meant that the race wasn't the hardest race we've done this year.  Heading into the last lap I got myself into good position.  I had Laura Van Gilder's wheel heading into the last sweeping corner, but lost it to Sam Schneider who didn't stay long on the wheel and attacked along the outside of the final corner.  That moment of reshuffling and not being committed meant I lost the good position in that one corner and was in the worst position into the last 200 meters or so of the finish.  I passed a couple in that last bit, but was kinda kicking myself for not being more aggressive.   I finished 8th for the day.  Erica Allar, Sam Schneider, and Laura Van Gilder went 1, 2, 3.    

Made a quick exit from Manhattan Beach...stopped long enough to get a quick picture of the ocean....then hauled it home to SLC.  

Next crit battle?  Boise Twilight Crit on Saturday.  Yep, that's handmade armour.  Chain mail made with re-purposed can tabs by friend Josh...pretty impressive.