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. 

Allan Butler Crit

Hello all,
Not too much time this week to sit down to write...or ride for that matter.  Busy busy.   Quick little snippet though...

Last Saturday, Matt and I drove north to Idaho Falls for the Allan Butler Crit.   We've done the race for several years now and it's always a fun one.  Unfortunately, few people travel for this one which is a shame because it's a great course (lots of corners but very smooth and you can keep a good speed and flow throughout the race) and the people are awesome, and the prizes are good too.  Fireworks for primes?  I certainly wouldn't play with fireworks, especially in this arid climate....but folks here like their firework celebrations a seemingly daily event in Utah during July.  Anywho.   I  dig the sentiment.  What better prize for a rider lighting it up in the race?

So, no women came.  What a different perspective racing when you already know you'll win!  Maybe I was being presumptuous... what's the likelihood that I would crash myself out of the race though? :)  Not worried about results whatsoever, I HAD A BLAST.  Its been a little bit since I've had that much fun in a race.  They put me in with one of the guys fields and I enjoyed it.  There was a break that went on to win, but our group was good and worked together well.  On the last lap I attacked into the second to last corner, lead into the last, then unleashed the sprint which I haven't been able to use in quite a long time, and won the bunch sprint.  The sprint felt good and the crowd liked it too.  Lots of cheering from the Idaho fans,"You go girl!"

Matt's race was also fun to watch...well kinda... the rain came in and literally every lap there was a crash... a littler nerve racking.  They stopped the race and re-started when the roads cleared a bit.  Matt was in the break of 3 that stayed away, so we left Idaho with some neat trophies.  Oh and the Great Harvest on the course MADE me take treats for the ride home.  Yum.

On another note, Vanessa Drigo and boyfriend Diego are in town.  Fun to have them stay with us on their trip across country.   Connecting with them again in a few days for Manhattan Beach GP in California!  Until the next report... stay Gnar everyone!

I wish this picture was scratch & sniff so you all could experience the delightful  scents of vanilla and coconut greeting me as I opened this gnar package from Gnar Lube.  Go check out their stuff!  It's awesome and super fun.