Will I race this weekend?

I don't know... everyone keeps asking.  This coming weekend will be Colorado's first race weekend with the start of the collegiate racing season.

I got my season openers last weekend in California.  Here is some video that shows how fast both those races were last weekend.  Click on the pics... it will link you to the video.  

Some fun!

Tour of California

PROMAN Hit Squad gets on the podium!  Rachel Lloyd was 3rd yesterday... stud.

In case you haven't heard, it was wet.  Pouring rain.  The best thing about PROMAN is everyone one of us has the ability to step it up and be on the podium in any given situation.  Today was Rachel's day.  She made the early break of 13 and threw down a mean sprint for third.   

Helena and I were in the bunch and both one a prime.  Megan unfortunately crashed out on the first lap.  She is ok... bike wasn't.

 I can't believe how much support PROMAN has.  Tim Brennan, team mechanic, is the best!  Nicola Cranmer, team director, works tirelessly for everyone.  Teammates who were not racing were out there in the miserable weather helping.  Random families and friends who just come by for moral support.  What a great network of people.  Thanks to everyone!

Headed back to the Rockies today.

San Jose Criterium

Saturday was the "warm-up" crit before Sunday's Tour of California crit.  Megan landed a 4th place and I ended 9th.  

My thoughts.... hmm.... well.... all and all I was plain toasted by the end of this race.  After a long winter of track racing and my 3 weeks of off season, it seems my top end fitness just is not there yet.  To be expected!  This doesn't mean I don't go out there again today and bury myself.  What I noticed yesterday was my lack of ability to recover.  Effort (either a small break I was in... or a small chase... or just the general full on pace) and it took me a while to recover.  The fitness will come when I get the road miles in.  The good news is that when I do get this fitness I am so ready to sprint with these girls... really ready.

On the way home we (Kate and I) did some tourist stuff but in order not to waste any energy we did it all by car.  Life of the traveling cyclists.  People think... "oh cool, you get to go to all these cities."  Well, really, we don't do much of anything with the exception of riding our bikes.  Anything else just wastes a whole bunch of energy.

Oh, this was before I got the call from Tim, team mechanic, to hurry back to the shop so we could pull cables AGAIN on my bike.  The BMC MACHINE is ready now!

Cari

First, I am staying with a teammate, Lorraine, and her husband, Kelly.  They have 2 massive Great Danes that I have fallen in love with.  Below is Hilo being as cute as he can be... and weighing about 150 pounds.

This week would not have been complete without a couple days of sunshine and riding.
Nicola Cranmer, Kate Mills, and me... Tiburon.
Today starts the racing for this weekend.  First San Jose and then tomorrow Santa Rosa.  Go legs, go!

California

This week I am in Fairfax, CA which is in Marin County outside of San Francisco.  I learned not to call it San Fran by the way.  The locals hate that.

I came out here to kick off the road season and do some team stuff.  PROMAN is a Marin based team and all the girls (I am the exception) are California girls.

Saturday we raced the local season opener- Cherry Pie Crit.  You could say it was a good day for us... check it out here.    It was amazing how big the race scene is here.  I thought Boulder had a good thing going but I was shocked to learn that NorCal cycling scene is HUGE!  There were tons of photographers, a videographer, a million spectators, etc.  FUN!

Rachel attacking the 4 women break... again and again.  She helped Megan secure the win!  Megan was 1st, Rachel was 4th, and I was 5th (field sprint).

Monday I spent the day at Whole Athlete.  Dario, the owner, did the super bike fit for me.  Oh, did I mention the NEW BMC?  You could say that I love it but that is a slight understatement.  There will be plenty more blogs about this bike because it is my new best friend.  Anyway, Dario also spent lots of time with me doing a Maximum Stead State (MSS) test.  Basically, this is a power test.  Training with power vs. heart rate seems to be a more effective way to train and this testing helped me learn my zones for training (both power and heart rate).

Dario getting Megan situated during her bike fit.

Yesterday, Rachel Lloyd (cyclocross superstar) went on a great road ride.  I slightly regretted having my 23 cassette on my bike when I realized that we needed to climb over a mountain to reach west Marin.  It was worth it though... beautiful!  We rode towards Point Reyes.  No pictures from the ride but just imagine rolling green hills.

All in all, it is great being out here to meet all of the team and all of the team supporters.  These women have done such a great job of building a local network .  This year, our licenses read PROMAN Hit Squad and I like to think we also have a PROMAN Support Squad.  Without this Support Squad this team would not be the same.