sandwich, I sat down at the computer and said, " I NEED to come up with something." I then stared at my computer screen for about ten minutes. All of the sudden it hit me with such force, BAM! A brilliant idea, at last! It came to me out of no where, and I was so astonished at my ideas brilliance that I said,"This is brilliant! I need to write this!" So here it is, a story about all of my racing stories (Well, not all of them, there is just to many) up until today. Remembering all the good and bad, all the rookie mistakes, bumps and bruises, victories and accomplishments; and that is why this blog is called 'Way Back Then'
It all began with this conversation:
Mark: "Hey! Aliya, Kaleb, there are these bike races called 'criteriums' at the Chico Airport... Wanna watch one."
Me: "Uhhh.. sure..." (thinking to myself: "Mark has gone off the deep end if he thinks I'M going to race a bike! Ha!)
Kaleb: "Sure!"
After watching some speedy looking racers one evening my thoughts changed.
Mark: "Well, would you guys want to actually race one?"
Me: "Yea!" (Thinking to myself: "Well this does not look to bad")
Kaleb: "Yea!!!"
So it happened, the beginning of my love for cycling, even though my first race was completely horrible (I was far from loving cycling at that moment), for some reason we continued to go race at the airport twice a week. I guess riding my bright, fire engine red mountain bike around in circles sort of grew on me after a while, because before I knew it, I was on a road bike and racing my first sanctioned race, the Chico Criterium!
Chico Criterium, '09 This was my first sanctioned race EVER! I had a lot of fun, and decided that I liked racing. |
Morgan Hill Criterium 2010 All I remember about this race was that the 13-14 girls had to race with the 13-14 boys, and it was hard! |
Basically, cycling was tattooed on my brain, and the ink was seeping all the way through it. It was always there, and still is, more prominent then ever. It probably will always be there, because I can't see myself doing anything else.
Why?
No matter how hard or disappointing a race is, I still feel like I need to continue racing, and improving the following weekend, because when I do succeed in completing my goal, and I perfect a race, I am so happy. It is very rewarding.
Cats Hill Criterium, 2011 Cats Hill again! Raced two races:13-14 girls and 15-16 girls, won both! |
Cats Hill criterium, 2011 |
Morgan Hill Criterium, 2011 First women's 4 win! |
Nationals, 2011 |
Dunlap TT, 2011 |
Cherry Pie Criterium, 2011 |
Davis Criterium, 2011 CRASH! |
I watched Pascal Shnider win the Cherry Pie Criterium solo, then this year I raced with her in three races, Menlo Park Grand Prix, Tour de Nez, and Fast and Furious! Oh, I also raced with Allison Tetrick, and a whole lot of other Exergy, Vanderkitten, and Now and Novartis women, plus all the local racers and bridge teams. It is really exciting to race with these women, and even more exciting to be able to hang with them in a race. They are also awesome role models.
Cherry Pie, 2011 |
Menlo Park |
Tour De Nez One word: ow... |
Fast and Furious See me over there to the left, yay I'm looking at all those Exergy girls, and I'm a little scared... |
I would like to thank NCNCA for having such wonderful races! All of these races have helped me learn and develop into the rider I am and hope to become. Again, thanks to all of the women I race with, you too have helped me. I would like to individually thank Mary Maroon also, for being a wonderful mentor and an even more wonderful friend :)
After this successful weekend, I still have the fire/need to race, race, race! So I will be at Dunnigan Hills RR (WOOHOO) and Suisun Harbor Crit!
I think you are a great friend too.
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