Cascade Classic, Stages 1-3

The first stage was an 83 mile road race that began at the Middle School in Bend, OR and ended up at McKenzie Pass where there are all these old lava fields. The race was very exciting! The night before, we had a team meeting and talked about our personal goals and formed them into one big team goal. Our goal was to be active in the race, not just pack fodder. Kele, Jen C., Hiroko, and Jen J. were to attack as well as help chase down attacks, and Lieselot and I were to rest in the middle of the pack to save ourselves for the final climb. Kele attacked off the bat within the first 6 miles and Amber R. from Webcor took off with Kele. Then there were efforts to get with them that the other Bellas covered with great finese. I was sitting smack dab in the middle of the pack and next thing I saw was Hiroko following a Lipton (Kristen L.) and a Victory Brewing (Kirsten) rider attack and bridge the gap up to Kele and Amber. How thrilling to have two Velo Bellas off the front. Both Jens kept watch of the front to see what was going to happen next. After a couple of minutes, it was pretty apparent that no one was going to chase down the break away. At about mile 21, Kele had mechanical problems and came back with the Peleton. (Kele was using a rental bike because her bike was not here in time. That darn thing was so heavy AND it had a triple chain ring. So, she was doing all that attacking on a bike that wasn't fit right and that she had never ridden before.) It would've been great to have Kele in that group, but she also helped me immensly in the peleton. If I was ever in the wind she would ask me what the h#%# am I doing and move me back into the center of the pack. We laughed afterwards that she was like a mother hen keeping me in line. We were all talking to each other and checking up on each other, that I never felt like I was alone out there racing. Hiroko did awesome even without support in the feed zone, nor a caravan car to help her. Jon, Sami F.'s husband, saved her in the second feed zone by handing her a nice cold coke feed. When we hit the climb, everyone helped to move me up to the front where Kele told me to keep my eyes open and get ready. Kristen A. began the first attacks up the climb and I just kept looking at the wheels in front of me, never looking back. After a while, we passed the 10k mark and I just told myself to keep focused. I knew Hiroko was still ahead of us, my teammates had all done their jobs for the day and it was Lieselot's and my turn to do our jobs. There was a group of 10 of us and we came along Hiroko a little after the 5k mark. I yelled at her to stay with us and pushed her on the butt to keep with the group. At 1k to go, everyone started sprinting and I just held on for dear life!!! Velo Bella ended up getting two spots in the top 20 and everyone of us finished knowing that our plan had worked and that we accomplished what we set out to do. I also want to say great job to Ryan who is guest riding for us and doing her first NRC race as a Cat 3 with us.

The second stage was a little bit of a repeat of the first day. It was 75 miles that ended up on another 7 mile climb. The first Queen of Mountain point for the day was at mile 6, so the race started off at a hard tempo from the start. Victory Brewing went to the front and started the grueling pace. I ended up towards the front and once again just kept my eyes on the wheel in front of me. My job for the day was to keep on Kristen A.'s wheel like a fly on shit, and so that's what I was doing for those first 6 miles. The next thing I knew we were crossing the QOM line and I was the 5th rider to cross it, meaning I got 1 QOM point. Yeah! I've never ever had any QOM points! Oh man, it took so much out of me. After that it was a nice long descent of course being led by Kele. After the descent, attacks began one after the other. VB was watching the front and going on any attacks we thought would stick. Jen J. was being our moral support in the peleton on the radio for the day. (She had really bad stomach cramps from the day before and so was trying to recover from that.) After a while, the attacks died down and we all went through the feed zone grabbing as many bottles as we could. (Thanks for all of those that came out yesterday to feed us.) It felt like the peleton was getting into a good rhythm, when all of a sudden Kele attacked like a mad woman!! Her bike was rocking and she had a look on her face like she was out for the kill! It seemed like no one was going to follow her, then Amber R. from Webcor chased after her and bridged the gap. The idea was to get Lipton to chase after them to try to get them a little tired before the final climb. When the gap as at about 2:40, Lipton went to the front as planned and started chasing. At the final climb, we passed Kele and we all exchanged motivating cheers as we crossed paths. Right away, the peleton began to break up. Lieselot came up next to me and was making hysterical comments, but I was too far in the red zone to be able to laugh. I had slobber and snot all over my face at that point. I pointed to the group in front of us, and I told her to stick with them. Sheesh! If she could be cracking jokes at that point, I figured she should be up in the front group. I ended up getting dropped from the front group just 4 miles to the finish and got with another group. Once again, at then end of the day, we all knew that we had a great race as a team. We came out with two top 20 finishes and drove away with smiles on our faces.

This morning was the 6.6 mile time trial. It was fairly flat with some rollies in it. Kele was to go first and I was to go last for the Velo Bellas. I told her that she had to go extra fast because I wanted to use her tri-spoke when she was finished. As I was getting my position in line, I hear Kele screaming my name behind me from the finish. She hurried over and we switched out front wheels before it was my turn to go. I just went out as hard and as fast as I possibly could. The sun was shining, little wind and not too hot. I passed my 30 second girl, which is always a self-esteem booster and just kept telling myself to drill it. I finished up the last 200 meters with the rest of my teammtes at the finishing corner yelling my name, it sounded so great! I crossed the finished and came across Hiroko with her nose bleeding and blood all over her face. Her nose started bleeding profusly within the first mile of the race and was still bleeding afterwards. She had blood all over her body and bike! I told her that she should keep the blood on her bike to remind herself of how tough she is.

This evening we have the crit. Yikes! I'm still very nervous in crits and don't feel super comfortable in them.

A huge thanks to the Sunny Side bike shop for fixing our bikes and taking great care of us!!