I didn’t DNF in the race, so I won’t DNF on this post….now for some Tour of the Gila, although I’m trying to block that out of my memory. One last painful recount and I’ll try to not think of it ever again. That’s the last time I’ll show up to a road race unprepared. I was exhausted from Sea Otter (and the races leading up to it), hadn’t done a road race in TWO years, or even owned a road bike in 1.5 years… my own fault. I was surprisingly comfortable riding in the pack despite all the crashes and despite the fact that I don’t even do group rides. It’s hard to fake it in a road race, but I finished the bastard. 25 women quit, so go me for finishing and swallowing my stupid pride.
Quick race recap:
Day 1, Mogollon. I felt like TOTAL crap and couldn’t push at all. I got dropped early and rode by myself the whole way back. I tried to take it easy and was seriously considering dropping out of the race. I actually almost decided not to show up, but I was already in ABQ and had already paid my entry, so I went…
Day 2. Inner Loop. I still didn’t feel great, but I hung on for awhile, and quite a few people got dropped. I ended up riding with a group for awhile and was one of the only people pulling b/c I felt guilty if I didn’t. Then the leader girl in our group got mad b/c this one girl wasn’t pulling and upped the pace to drop her, and dropped me instead. Then I rode all by myself into a 40 mph headwind for a long long time.
Day 3. TT. I had zero TT gear and my legs were super sore. It felt like I did weights the day before. Had to make due.
Day 4. Crit. My best stage. I’m used to going 80% for a long time so I hung until a few laps to go where I got stuck behind a girl’s back wheel who was a very slow climber and the gutter. Got dropped, rode laps of shame until they pulled me at 1 lap to go. At one point, I was frisky and thought about attacking the field for the hell of it.
Day 5. Outer Loop. Totally blown at this point. GC was close so the pack attacked like crazy from the get-go. I was amazed I held on for as long as I did. Some people including myself got dropped after awhile. I decided to just go really hard for as long as I could. 45 minutes later I caught the pack in the valley(was very proud of myself), and they were naturally attacking every couple of minutes. I held on for about 10 miles only to get dropped again. I was so done, but all I could do was just ride to the finish. It would have been dumb to quit a basically 300 mile race with 20 miles to go. Max HR for the day was 160. Usually my max HR in a race is 211. Yeah….
Pics
2 men who will never let me down! I got to spend time with my family before the Gila.
They actually make “Sonya” apples. I still haven’t had one, but I’m definitely going to, and stashing all the cool stickers.
My teammate, Jen Wilson, sticks Clif Blocks on her bike instead of her pocket. Creative. She was also sticking them on other places for humor, but those pictures are omitted to keep the site PG-13. 😉
My badass friends and teammates- Nina and Jen. Shannon Gibson, Kathy Sherwin (who unfortunately got crashed out), and Josie are not pictured…sorry guys. I was too tired and grumpy to take a lot of photos.
Pretty much the sweetest road bike ever. Too bad it’s faster than I am!
Why you should put sunscreen on your lower back before a 70 mile stage. I’m going to have a sun-kissed tramp stamp for years to come…
Naturally, Nina and I took ice baths every night. Sometimes we took 2. They were delightful.
Mom taking my pic. One thing I did get at the Gila was a tan. It’s the Italian in me. I wore that outfit to the airport and the security guards were enjoying it. eeeewwwww.
Unpacking my road bike… I really wasn’t as happy as I look to work on my bike.
My brother is going to start riding to school and possibly recreationally (with my encouragement, he just doesn’t know it yet) on my dad’s old school mountain bike so I helped him get it working.
