Spinning Drills. In July. Sigh.

Got my powertap back finally and continue to post record numbers. So there's that.

Not much to say about UWW RR. Its a beautiful course and is put on with obvious love and care. Last year I won the cat 4 race from a two person breakaway - beating women who were arguably stronger climbers than I. Quite a triumph.

This year I drove up early with a teammate racing in that category. I enjoyed watching the race - attrition on the hill whittled their field down to six who sprinted together. Then I rode the course twice to warm up.

There were eight women in the P123 field - the tall woman, Heidi, from Masters Nationals was one, and it was delightful to see her again. I'd also raced with Diane before, a 50+ climber who had just won her crit at Masters Nationals the day before. I knew Diane would be a leg-breaker.

We started, rode to the hill, shifted into our small chainrings and very politely climbed up as a group. At the top, Diane attacked. And I thought "That is so smart! I am ON that." But my legs simply didn't move fast enough. I couldn't make them. I got a little gapped. Diane took a long look back, the expression on her face saying "Aren't you coming??" But I was off.

I chased for a lap, the gap growing from 10 seconds to 30 before someone attacked and took them out of my sight.

And that was that.

I talked it over with my coach - my inability to quickly accelerate uphill has spit me out the back of most of my races this year - and we're changing my training to address this weakness specifically.

In other news, I just lost my partner for the two person TT next Sunday - a discipline that I can actually do well in. Arg.

Masters Nationals Road Race has been one of my big target races for this year. I've been building up to it, trying to peak -- and while I feel like I haven't quite gotten there, I've been delighted at the leaps in fitness I made by riding Blue Mounds. It was such great training: since then my climbing has improved and I finished the Fitness Check TT in a time that still makes me giddy with glee.

I drove down to Louisville, KY on Saturday. I picked up my registration packet and then went to the race course, stopping only for a couple liters of water. It was hot and humid but also bright and clear and the park the race is in was gorgeous. I rode the course a couple times, trying to get the turns down -- as much as possible with the roads open to cars. It is a GREAT course - winding and rolling with a couple longish climbs.

My race was at 10:30 am on Sunday. I got there early, before the first races went off at 8 am, to ride the course one more time - this time closed to traffic. There were two sharp turns that worried me, both downhill. I've come a long way since the crashes last year sent me into a blind panic in the corners, but I'm still not 100%. I wanted to be as prepared as possible.

It was hot. I warmed up and tried to stay hydrated. The 40-44 age group had the largest field with 25 women starting [or as the announcer claimed at the line: "almost 30!"] It was fast from the whistle - so many talented, tough women. And as I'd feared, the cornering was a huge weakness for me. I would get just a little gapped and have to work extra hard to catch back on, then we'd hit another and I'd get a little gapped again. I wasn't the only one - and I wasn't the worst one - but when someone put in a big uphill attack on the third lap, the elastic broke.

At first there were four of us, but we kept picking up other shelled riders and by the second to last lap, there were eight or so in our group. A Priority Health girl and I ended up doing the bulk of the work in the last laps. By then, I knew who could climb, who NOT to get behind in the corners, and whose wheel to grab on the descents. A very tall woman attacked off the front mid-way through the last lap and we let her go - we knew we'd catch her at the twisty hill, and we did. I put in a big dig on that hill and hurt a couple women in our group. Priority Health and I let the tall girl take us down the hill and onto the flat. Glancing behind, I could see another rider chasing hard. We started up the final climb into the finish and dropped tall girl. I sat behind Priority Health, and the unattached chaser sat behind me. At 200 meters, I attacked and while I felt like I was pedaling through molasses, I picked up speed and Priority Health could not respond. The unattached rider, however, could. She came around me at 50 meters and I had nothing left. She 'won' our group and I crossed the line next in 13th place. I felt good that despite working super hard for the entire race, I had enough left to contend for the finish.

It was such a fun race - and so hard. If I can improve my cornering and descending skills, I'll finish with the front group next year. A good goal.

Stray thoughts:
- oh my god my HED stingers are AWESOME!!! They take five pounds off my bike and they practically float. Another rider asked me if I liked them and for a moment all I could do was cackle.

- can't blame the other riders for thinking me a bit odd for wearing cool weather knickers in the 85+ degree heat. I didn't really think about it until I got a number of comments. The knickers make me feel more comfortable and that's one less thing to worry about in a race. And its no worse than Tati sporting wool year-round.

- driving for hours after a hard race is its own challenge.

- this race was so well-run. So many people putting so much time and effort and it really paid off. Thank you!

- the announcer mentioned that there was a film crew there making a commercial for USA Cycling that will play on Versus during le tour. There's a miniscule chance that I will be in it! Wooo!

The Fitness Check Time Trial #3 was held this morning. My team gathers at the lakefront and rides a set course while our coach times us. We can compare our results with the last FCTT and the FCTT last year at this time.

Last year in late June I rode the course in 26:45 -- and that was my PR. Today I rode it in 26:00.

So, while I feel slow, I AM improving. I still have a long way to go before I can stick with the big girls in the P-1-2-3 field, but seeing some actual progress helps.

The new fork certainly didn't hurt either. Still marveling at the wonderful stiffness. [Yes, yes, that's what she said. Whatever.]

This Alpha-Q fork feels amazing! Very stiff. So much better than the mushy ride on the cracked steering tube of my old fork. Yay.

This is why so few cat 3 women race: racing with the Pro 1-2 women is demoralizing. The few cat 3 women who CAN compete in that field continue, and most of the rest struggle for a while and then move on to something else. Too many women enter cat 3 limbo and disappear.

Blue Mounds Race of the Future is an excellent race. A lavish production with scores of volunteers, an announcer, a big stage, SRAM neutral support, rolling closures, tons of marshalls, and an interesting, challenging and beautiful course. And by challenging I mean two laps equalling 44 miles with 2200 feet of climbing --climbs that last for miles -- and a mile + uphill kicker added onto the end.

My bike was suffering lingering effects from crashing two weeks ago. Turns out my derailleur, not just my derailleur hangar, was bent up a bit. And the crack in my steering tube, while not dangerous to ride, makes my bike about as stiff as a sponge. Which feels . . . alarming -- especially while climbing out of the saddle. To warmup, I rode to the bottom of the final climb and started up -- and my bent derailleur wouldn't stay in gear. Any climbing pressure on the 23, 21 or 19 and the chain popped back and forth between cogs [and yes, I should have swapped the 23/11 for a 27/12 before leaving for Wisconsin]. So my warmup was spent at the SRAM neutral support cars where the mechanics struggled to salvage my beat-up derailleur.

And they prevailed! I was able to shift without incident throughout the race, and the chain stayed where it was supposed to. Thank you SRAM mechanics!

25-30 women started the race [the results only show the women who finished, not sure how many DNFed but I saw a couple at the side of the road]. We had a neutral roll-out downhill -- the thought of which turned my stomach. I'm a nervous descender and was not looking forward to speeding downhill en masse. So I let myself get a little gapped right off. I caught on quickly, but on the back. And then we were on the first climb and I was off the back again. I think I should have been able to stay with the pack longer, despite the amazing talent in that group. Something to think about.

Another woman popped off the back ahead of me. I chased her for a while -- she noticed me and sat up a little. I thought, great, someone to work with! But soon I was waiting for her at the top of every hill, so after a while I dropped her. And continued on my grueling 44 mile training ride.

The cat 4/5 men caught up to me on one of the big climbs that shattered their field. I rode in-between several groups and individuals off the back of their pack. It was nice to have company, even if we couldn't work together.

The 22 mile circuit ends with several miles of unrelenting up that made me REALLY regret not having the 27/12 cassette. The first time up was sorta fun. The lead was out of my legs by then and I could try to close the gaps to the guys up ahead. But starting the second lap, knowing what lay ahead, was daunting. I thought about the gels and blox in my pockets, the water and electrolyte drink left in my bottles, and how to ration them most effectively.

The cat 4/5 stragglers got together and disappeared. I was alone. I was tiring - but frankly, I would rather die than quit. I gutted it out to the last climb, swallowed my last gel, and then tried to remember to make circles instead of squares. Groups of [mostly junior] riders from another field started to come by. Suffering and cowbells and suffering. Finally I made it to the feed zone where it flattened, and then made the turn for the last mile and a half to the finish line. Uphill. I fought all the way up, my cracked steering tube, a spongy accordian, and as I crossed the line, I heard the announcer say "triple X racing!"

And I was done in. I desperately needed water, but the though of food made me sick. The other women were all recovering -- eating, stretching, cooling down. I was the last woman to finish the race. And while finishing IS an accomplishment, it didn't feel so awesome to have people who had killed that course congratulate me.

But I'm very glad to have the experience. I have 2200 feet of climbing in my legs that I didn't have on Wednesday, and I have valuable knowledge for next year. And oh yes, I will be there next year if at all possible. Hopefully with my teammate Heidi -- who would be a real force in this race. Cat 3 limbo will not defeat me.

I was delighted to see my teammate Jacques had taken second in the men's cat 3 race -- yay, Jacques!

It was rainy and cold at Sherman Park, but the cat 4/masters women's race was fast and interesting. There was a huge crash in the race before ours, so we circled the course in the rain until the ambulance left. By the time our race started, we were all soaked.

There were about 15 women, including four cat 3 masters racers. Lots of attacks -- two Wild Card women that raced cross kept trading attacks. I chased a lot down and so did Dana. It was a strong enough field that no one could ride away from the group -- although the masters women tried over and over.

There was a prime on the second to last lap. I went for it, but lost to a cat 3 from New Zealand. We had a little gap after the prime sprint and she started sitting up -- I shouted "GO! GO!" and she went. We traded pulls for almost half a lap, then she sat back and waited for the bunch that was bearing down on us. I can't sprint anyway, so I sat on the front and just pulled as hard as I could. It was tough -- for a moment I quailed, but I wanted to give it everything I had, Jens-style. I told myself to just HTFU and keep pushing. I tried to keep the pace high enough that no one would attack early. And it worked -- I found out later I actually dropped several women.

Coming into the final turn, Gigi was on my wheel and yelling at me to go faster, to lead her out. I was pretty much at my limit already, but I tried. I stood up and kept barreling to the line. My teammate Natalie and the New Zealand woman came around me -- Natalie WON! -- and I came in third, second in the masters. A result I'm very happy with.

It was really fun to be in an animated and difficult race. I attacked, I chased, I won a prime [SOCKS!]. I worked really hard.

Big huge thanks to all my teammates and everyone else that made this race happen. Stocky, Jeff Holland, Chris MacFarland, Brian Morrissey, Nikki Cyp, Jonathan Dugas, Get a Grip, everyone who set up, tore down, marshalled, worked registration, donated time or merchandise -- everyone who came out and raced. Thank you!