Oh the Wind and Rain!

Well an excellent weekend of racing has just passed by! I had an awesome time down in Sacramento, racing a criterium, Land Park, and a Road Race, Bariani!



Warming up for the Jr race with some Teini Duro guys.

 Land Park was Saturday. My first race of the day was women's category 4 (W4), it was in the morning, and at that time the weather was not the best, over-cast, but at least it was not raining. The worst part was the wind, it was scary! A couple times in the race I thought the wind would knock me over! The whole race I made sure I was in the draft. I ended up getting 8th place!

 My second race was the Jr's race. The race is challenging because all Jr categories race together and are not picked separately, my goal was to hang in with the big guys four at least 3 laps!!! I did, I hung with them for 3 laps, but after 3 laps I was off the back!!! For the rest of the race I decided that I would keep an easy, consistent pace. Soon I caught some guys who went off the back also. I tried to get them to work together with me but they were like little jack rabbits hopping all over the place!!! It was annoying so I just rode my own pace and ignored them. They would soon blow up and sit on my wheel! Ugh... boys..... Of course it just had to pour rain during the Jr race!

I was very proud with my race Sunday, Bariani road race!!! W4 did three laps, ten miles each lap. It was clear all day long, but the wind... WAS CRAZY!!! I think I would have preferred it to rain with no wind, then to have to deal with those large gusts of wind that pushed me all around! The W4 raced hard each lap until we came to the head wind section, then everybody slowed down to 12 mph! When we slowed down some ladies got very wobbly and were very dangerous, luckily, there were no crashes!  On the last lap there was a break with two women they got away, I was in a chase group that was caught, only one lady got away and bridged up to the other ones that broke away. During the head wind section we caught the two ladies that broke away, but the one that bridged was still off the front. She came into the finish, solo and won. When I came to the finish line I was in a break and won 8th place again!



Here are the race results for W4, I am # 8!!!

 When I did the Aliya Omnium, I was not strong on that second day of racing. This concerned us. This whole weekend I had the right nutrition, that gave me lots of energy for the Bariani road race. That helped a lot. When Mark and I do our training rides, I try to find the draft and I stay in it as close as I can. I have become very good at finding where the draft is. That also helped my a lot during the races because it was so windy.

I am very excited to race more road races soon. Next week I am racing Copper town circuit race and also, some parts of the local Oro-Chico stage race promoted by Rodney Cox.

Here are some more pics from this weekend:

Warming up for the road race!



Start of W4 race!!!



Who is Rodney Cox???

Are you looking for some low-key cycling events? Do you want to have fun racing, along with kicking butt and winning some cool prizes at the same time? Have you heard of R.A.C.E?

The summer of 2009 is when I began racing local criteriums. I loved the prizes and all of the support I received from the cyclists and, of course, Rodney Cox. Rodney Cox... who is that guy? Rodney, he is that dude who promotes all of those cool criteriums! He is also the founder/director of R.A.C.E (Rodney's Amateur Cycling Events). He LOVES cycling!!!! You may ask, Does Rodney promote any other events other than criteriums? OF COURSE!!!!

Criteriums, Flat 10 mile Time Trials (TT's), uphill TT's,  Road Races (RR), Circuit races, Mountain Bike races, and omniums are all available on the R.A.C.E race schedule!  The omniums are outstanding! They are perfect for practicing team tactics or just to have fun racing a whole weekend  in a friendly environment! The Uphill TT's, 10 mile TT's, RR, Circuit Races, and Mountain Bike races are challenging, but the scenery is breath taking. You can fit these events in with your training schedule, too.

Rodney Cox has done WAY more than promote cycling events, he has turned on many people, including me,  to LOVE cycling.

You can always find out what's going on with Rodney and R.A.C.E by clicking on the link below:
http://chicocyclist.blogspot.com/

Team TIBCO camp!

Carpinteria, that is where I was last Friday through Monday. It was beautiful (after it stopped raining), and right next to the ocean. Why was I down in Carpinteria?  Team TIBCO camp of course!!!

When we arrived at our Hotel in Carpinteria, it had just stopped raining. Shortly after, we had most of our belongings shoved in every corner and we were ready to go out and find a restaurant so we could stuff our faces! We found a small little Mexican restaurant, the food was delicious! We then went back to the hotel.


Skylar and me!


When we woke up, the sky was clear and we thought for sure it would be a nice day. An hour later I looked outside again, dark clouds had rolled in. It started to drizzle, I hoped that it would not rain to hard that day, because everybody on Team TIBCO was going to ride (Jrs, pro's, and Team TIBCO II).
When we arrived at the beach house Team TIBCO was staying at, the weather was pretty much the same. I did  not care at the time, I was very excited!

This is me with the team owner, Linda Jackson!

The ride was fine. I cut my ride a little short because I was not feeling the best. I turned back with a group of girls and headed back to the beach house. A little after we turned around, it began to dump buckets of rain on us, everybody bee-lined it to the beach house!

The weather was beautiful the next day and everybody was itchin' to go out and do some long miles. We began the ride with the pros, but then they left to do a long ride while, the Team TIBCO II's (TTII) and Jrs had to practice lead outs. That was fine with me, I learned somethings, but really, I wanted to go out and ride some long miles, same with the other Jrs.

I loved spending time with the team. The Jrs cooked dinner for everyody one night, then Monday morning we made pancakes (Tried to at least)! All the pro's are a ton of fun to hangout with... kind of like a bunch of big sisters.

The next day was Monday, my last day with the team. The Jrs rode out with the pro's but later we split. Us Jrs, were able to do some long miles just like we wanted!



All of the Jrs half way through our ride. There is Skylar, Tara, Page, Alexis, and me!


 We left Carpinteria, at 5:00 in the evening and did not get home until 2:00 in the morning!!!
I will get to race with and see most of my team this weekend at Snelling RR!

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!

Last Sundays race!

Last Sunday I rode with my team in an Early Bird Criterium.  I was incredibly excited; this would be the first race that I actually would work with a team! Before the race, we came together and discussed the race tactics that we would perform. Soon we came up with the decision that everybody would attack at different times in the race, and I would lead out the last lap.Everything went as planned, but when there was only 5 laps to go a crash just HAD to occur. Two of our teammates were in it, Maryanne and Vanessa.  Maryanne was supposed to be behind me in the lead out so when I slowed down she could pass me and keep the pace going. Unfortunately, with Maryanne crashing, the entire lead out was up to me.

 

The race was neutralized for 2 laps, and when we were allowed to race again there was one lap to go. The race was on! Everybody began to pick up the pace, even though I was to lead out the whole last lap, I waited until the second to last corner to take off. When I did, the remaining two teammates were behind me ready for the sprint. When I dropped they took off.  One of the sprinters won! The other was in 4th or 5th place, and I had a big smile on my face! I am looking forward to the next race with my team!

 

The next exciting thing is that my stepdad, Mark Wolford, raced for the first time in 6 years! He was very proud of himself because he not only was able to stay with the cat. 4’s, he also was in the top 10!!! GREAT JOB MARK!!!

On the road again.....

For the last two weeks I’ve been on the trainer due to a small injury to my hamstring. The problem was caused by riding too hard before my warm up.  To heal this, I had to ride on the trainer with no resistance. I would ride 90 min. every day. My warm up was 45min. with 50-60 rpm’s, and then I would ride for 45 more min. at 70-80 rpm’s. The second week on the trainer, my hamstring was feeling better so I began to add resistance and I shortened my warm up to 30 min. I am glad that most of the time I was on the trainer it was raining!

My first ride on the road was a couple days ago! Mark and I planned to leave at 6:30 a.m. but did not get out until 7:30. BOY! That day I WANTED to be on the trainer! It was FREEZING! Going down Cohasset road we had to stop every 5 min. to warm our hands up! There were also a couple of places where I had to Hike-a-bike over the ice, and did not get warm until we rode back up Cohasset!

Yesterday I rode in Rodney’s up-hill Time Trial. The ride was very short and simple, only 3.4 m. and 700 ft. of climbing. My time was 20 min. and 49 sec. That was my best time until I rode the same up-hill Time Trial today. I cut over a minute off of yesterday’s time! My time today was 19 min. and 20 sec.!

I woke up this morning to 4-6 inches of snow! When we came home from the up-hill Time Trial my brother already made a snowman! Hope everyone has wonderful New Year!

A weekend in the Bay Area

Wow!!! I had a Very busy weekend in the Bay  Area! My family and I woke up early Saturday ready to have a weekend packed with plans in Los Altos. When we arrived to our destination, the first thing I did was prepare for a Clinic with Team TIBCO, mentored by Megan Guarnier.

After the ride we checked into our hotel and had a couple of hours to ourself's. That evening we went to see Secretariat in an old movie theater. Prior to the movie, we had to find a place to get candy. We had some difficulties then found a Target!

The next day I rode with Team TIBCO again. That day I also met and rode ( for the first time ) with the director of Team TIBCO, Linda Jackson! Linda must like climbing, we climbed almost 3900 ft. and she managed to drop everyone. I had a good time! Then all of the sudden it started raining 'Cats and Dogs'!

While I was riding with Team TIBCO, my mom and brother visited the Egyptian Museum! They had a blast! We ended the weekend with a dinner with the Tibco ladies!