It’s official not only did I start my 1st Women’s Pro 1/2 road race with my awesome new team Wells Fargo Racing out here in NorCal but I finished and was able to help my super strong teammate capture 5th going against some world class athletes who also race the local scene out here… welcome to CA! It was an amazing day in the saddle, beautiful loop out in the Orinda area where we do these 3 kicker climbs (Papa Bear is pretty tough) but the climbing isn’t really long enough to be my style (I’m better on climbs 5miles and longer) but a great course to say the least. There were tons of people out watching throughout the course, felt like an NRC race to be honest and the pace was exactly like the pace I’d expect at some of the top road races like Redlands and Toona, so props to the NorCal women cyclists… strong as crap! That’s why I’m still in complete shock I actually finished and not only that I was able to help my teammate Sus finish strong and then drag my booty up to the finish of Papa Bear in 10th! It was a nice size field and like I said, 71 brutal miles with 12 climbs… legs felt really good until the last 2 climbs… though throughout the entire race I was using tons of sport psych tools like circle breathing, imagery, and thought-stopping cues to keep my momentum going even on barely any fitness. I had only really trained for 1.5 months and had done hardly any intervals… so yes, it was a bit painful but I managed to hang and even pull some of the strongest racers up the climbs on Sunday and do my job of helping my team so I couldn’t be happier! Still can’t get the smile off my face ;-) Yep, I’m back… not full time racing but being able to go out there and experience that high we all get from racing our hardest and working as a team… well nothing can beat that, eh?
