Jelly Belly's and Cherry Pie's

  Early Saturday my family and I packed our bags to spend a weekend in the Bay Area, we would go visit the Jelly Belly Factory and I would race at the Cherry Pie criterium. Before we left, however, we stopped to race a local up hill Time Trial (TT) which would be my pre-race ride.The TT (Pentz rd.) was 5.8 m. with 1,200 ft of climbing. I went easy up the climb because my legs felt the previous days ride. After the TT, we were off to Fairview.

  We stayed in a very cute, small hotel room. It had a loft with a t.v in it... that is where I stayed!!! When we were all settled in our little room, we jumped over to the Jelly Belly Factory that was only three miles away. Their tours are free and 20 min. long. In that time you get a full tour of the Factory and learn how they make Jelly Belly's. You also get to sample Jelly Belly's at different stages in there creation. At the end of the tour you receive a little box of free Jelly Belly's.

  After touring the Jelly Belly factory we zoomed over to Napa where the Cherry pie criterium would take place so we could ride the course a couple of times. I will tell you what the course is like:

Well, the start is on a descent then you go around a turn and it flattens out. You go around another turn that is very wide onto some rough pavement which smooths out when you take a left hand turn. After taking another left hand turn you have a tail wind that pushes you around a chicane and up a small climb, which is were the finish is. After the climb you take a 180 degree left hand turn. That's the Cherry Pie course.
After riding the course we went back to the hotel and went to bed.

Sunday 2-6-11........ RACE DAY!!!! The whole family was up and ready to kick butt at 5:00 in the morning! All we needed was breakfast and our carrot juice. Soon everybody was packed and ready to spend a day at the races. It was a beautiful day, 70-80 degrees out! My first race was at 8:10 in the morning. I was racing in the category 10-14 girls that were also racing in the same race as the 10-12 boys. Everybody split into different groups. I was in the lead group, but, to me, they were going slow so I attacked before the chicane. I stayed off the front the whole race (it was only three laps) and won! When you win a race you get a cherry pie.

The next race, Women's cat. 4 (W4), was more important to me. We raced for 30 min. It was a fast race! There were a couple of times when I thought I would not hang on to the lead pack, but I did and I am very proud of that! On the last lap it seemed like everybody was dropping off the pack! When we came to the climb I gave it my best and passed a lot of women. Let me tell you, I was TIRED! Later on I found out that I got 11th place!!! Working hard pays off!!!

                                              On the podium with the 10-14 junior girls!                                    

Off the front!!!

                                                            On the podium with my cherry pie!