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Boy it feels like I haven’t posted in a really long time, and because I passed my thesis proposal this afternoon (!!!), I decided to reward myself with a little blogging R&R. Yay! I am soooo happy and relieved that this step in the thesis process has been accomplished and I’m excited to start the assessments and intervention. It has been stressful let me tell ya, but I’ve been trying to stay sane and on my bike, even if it’s only been an hour a week sometimes! Yikes. This past weekend I did have a great weekend full of cycling and yes, my first crash, to recap . . .  

Friday my cycling buddies and I hit the road for a Women’s Cycling Clinic held in Redlands, CA. We had a blast riding down and the time flew by with laughter and excitement for the weekend ahead.

We had to make a stop at the famous Mad Greek Restaurant in Baker. Oh man there gyros are delish!

We got into town fairly early and were able to do a scenic 15 miler around downtown.  Pretty scenery, but not very bike friendly!

Orange trees!

After making it to registration we headed back to the hotel with our goodie bags 🙂

Saturday was the start of the actual clinic at a local high school.  Breakfast was a cinnamon raisin bagel with pb & j, orange slices, 1/2 a naner and about 2 cups of water.

The first part of the day was on-the-bike instruction led by a pro for the USA Para Cycling Team!  I actually remember seeing her at the Olympic Training Center when I went a few years ago.  Neat!

We practiced several drills like riding really close and bumping wheels.

Also worked on picking up a water bottle from the ground.  I worked on this one about a gazillion times before I finally got it 🙂

all smiles . . .

But then we had some boo boos . . .

We went to a nearby area for crit practice and the group my teammate and I ended up getting in was not the best at pace lines.  When you think of a pace line, the speed should be consistent, not like accordion like this one was.  It was terrible!  We turned a corner and I was coming back off the front of the pace line while my teammate was towards the back, when all of a sudden the group slowed down a bit and her wheel hit the one in front of her.  That impact sent her bike tumbling into mine and we both went down.  Fortunately for me my bike took the brunt of the force and I only got some bruising and road rash on my bum and elbows.  My teammate on the other hand banged her hip up pretty badly 🙁  no bueno.

I was pretty sore, but still able to finish the clinic presentations and race the next day.

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We were all up at 4:30am to make the 30 minute drive and 7am start time for the Ontario Mid Season Criterium.  The weather was overcast, chilly and rainy, which didn’t ease my nerves one bit.  On the ride over I wanted to eat something that would settle well and still give some good energy and opted for a PowerBar Performance Energy bar and a rice krispie treat + about 2 cups of H2O.

We were able to warm-up on the course which was great and I got in a good 20-25 minutes.  After the warm-up I had a few swigs of my Infinit formula.  Most people don’t keep any bottles during a crit, but I like to have about a 1/4-1/2 bottle just in case I need something.

Ready at the start.

aaaand . . . we’re off!

For me, clipping in is usually hit or miss.  Some days I can clip with ease and other days I fumble with the darn thing and can’t seem to get dialed in.  Today was one of those fumbly days and it took me a few tries to get locked in, but amazingly I was still able to hang with the pack!

Overall it was a great race and it was my first pack finish that I didn’t get dropped!  I was pretty apprehensive about the wet conditions and not wanting to crash, so I stayed on the outside and towards the back.  I need to definitely work on the confidence to get in there.

With 4 laps to go I actually surged to the front for some show 🙂  I couldn’t hold it out there in front for longer than a 1/2 lap, but it was sure fun!  I tried to get back in the pack to suck off some draft, but no one would let me in and I was relegated towards the back again.

On the last lap there was a crash on turn 3 towards the front and I was able to avoid it thank goodness.  No one was seriously hurt, but I was able to move up a few spots and finished 7th overall!!!  woo!

• Duration:  34 minutes
• Distance:  12.8 miles
• Average:  22mph

Overall it was a really fun weekend and I love my cycling buddies 🙂

Lessons learned from this weekend:

1.  Practice bike handling skills. I’m not the best when it comes to handling the bike in hairy situations and this can really be useful in close quarters.

2.  Crit Practice. Even if it’s not a real race, practicing is always a good thing, mentally and physically.  I need to practice starting really quickly and doing intervals to replicate the surges in a crit.  Sometimes it’s balls to the wall to try and loose some of the pack and then other times they go slow.

3.  When it’s raining . . . RIDE! Rain freaks me out to ride in and I need to get more comfortable in wet conditions or at least be somewhat prepared for it.

4.  Tactics & Confidence. Racing is more about mentality than anything else and racing tactics play a huge role in who crosses that finish line.  I’m not sure if I’ll ever understand tactics, but it’s really kind of neat.  I also need to work on the confidence thing, and this too should come with time.

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Hope you all are doing well!  I miss blogging tremendously, but I figured I needed to find time somewhere if I am going to finally finish my thesis for good.  I am going to blog as much as I can, it just might not be too frequently 🙂

Happy National Bike to Work Week 🙂

Tell me what you are up to!