June Update

It's been a while since I've last blogged. So much for my "I'm going to blog every night" plan for the summer.

It's the lack of a schedule that's derailed my consistent blogging..

To go back in time, I'd like to quickly touch upon the highlights of this month.
June 2nd -5th, I raced in Hood River, Oregon.  The stage race was wicked hard, full of ridiculous hills.  Not only were the hills difficult, it was the fast pace of the Pro/1/2 race that made the race challenging.  Most of the stages I lasted like less than ten miles with the pack before falling off the back, completely fried.. spending the rest of the stage riding in solo trying to make the time cut.  As for the racing, it was a great great experience.  I gained a lot, and it was an intense four days of racing.  At the least, it was a great chunk of training with the team.   Racing with the best climbers in the nation was a great experience, however my performance was not tip-top, showing me that I've got a bit of work to do.  I finished in last place overall, 106th of the initial 150 riders.  Getting the "lantern rouge" was harder than you'd think, and I think it says a lot to have finished a four day stage race, despite being quite literally one of the worst climbers in the P/1/2 field.   The fourth stage was insane.  It was 90 miles, full of hills.  I got dropped on the first roller because I spent so much time chasing the pack from the downhill start.  The hills were hard, and we had to do 4 KOM's.  I even managed to take a wrong turn, doing extra mileage!! On the descent of the third KOM I got a flat tire.  That was just about it.  I was ready to call it quits since at that point I had gotten passed by quite literally every category.. I got a spare wheel and managed to ride up the last 10km of hills to the finish with the P/1/2 women's field.  The KOM's were high up in the snow.  That was a cool experience because the weather was perfect and the snow and runoff was a great contrast with the cool air and breeze around me in the hills at the base of Mt. Hood.

On to other cyclings news.. Nevada City Classic.
I dreaded doing this race because I knew exactly what was coming.. Fast racing, painful hills and getting dropped.. and lapped..
Sure enough (not that I was "sticking to the plan"), I started in the front.  Right behind Ian, we rolled out and had great positioning for the neutral lap.  I managed to hang with the top group for a total of about five laps before I got shelled off the back.  The gaps that started out as 2 ft and 3 ft gaps turned into 5 and 10 ft. gaps.. I got dropped, finding myself in no man's land.  The rest of the field was way off the back, and I managed to ride by myself (having blown up from those initial five laps) and found some other riders off the back.  I had blown up so bad that I couldn't hang with anyone, getting dropped one by one by each group that passed by. The hill was brutal and I kept plugging away, despite getting lapped numerous times.  I figured they'd pull me but they never did. All in all, after about an hour I was beginning to lose hope.  I asked the Chico crowd how long I'd been riding and someone (Jeff O.) shouted "Not long enough!"  That irritated me a bit, so I kicked it in gear with what little energy I had left, zipping up the jersey and grabbing extra water bottles in an attempt to dig deep for the remaining time left.  The next lap I found out I'd been going for over an hour.  A few laps later I saw 5 laps to go.  That's when I knew the end was near.  I finished the race, practically dead last.  I am beginning to see a pattern.. Sign up for big "classic" races and get dead last.  Hmm.. my form isn't here yet.  Probably because I don't spend enough time on the bike..

Speaking of time spent off the bike, the rest of my summer has been quite enjoyable.. Lots of time spend with friends, making the most of things with the given opportunities to hangout.  Juan had been our (Ashley and My) main focus since he was leaving for the Air Force Mid June.  We spent quite a number of days and nights together, it was awesome. We swam a lot, went to Fosters a lot, watched a lot of movies and stayed out late a lot.  Between the three houses, we spent a lot of time together.  I am so glad we had the chance to do that.  After Juan left, I have been spending time with Ashley and Patrick, since with Patrick's help I've been fixing up my car.  I replaced my CV Axles, that was quite a project!

At the moment, that's all that's really been going on.  Lots of fun, and this summer has been quite productive so far!