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Racing
October 2009 
Callville Bay Classic Stage Race (Southern Nevada Stage Race)
Posted on Mar 2nd, 2009
by 
Cara
Cara
3 stages in two days.
Saturday: 5.5k hill climb, 92k road race
Sunday: 0.8 mile 6 corner, 45 minute crit.
Results:
4th Hill Climb
3rd Road Race
3rd Crit
3rd GC
Here’s my auto-interview:
It was a fun weekend and pretty relaxing overall. TCTMJ and TCTMa (team cara team mascots) C and F came with me to lovely Lake Mead in Boulder City NV (just outside of Vegas). We stayed at the Hacienda Hotel and Casino. Hmmm. They allow pets. That’s all I’ll say about it. It was awesome having TCTMJ with me. It takes off so much stress. My trainer gets set up, my bottles get filled, my numbers get pinned, and I get tones of… shall we say “constructive” criticism.
Stage One: Hill Climb
So the climb was advertised as 6.5 km. It wasn’t. I should have paid more attention when we drove it. I kept saving some for the “kicker” not realizing I was on it. Oh well. I was in 4th after the hill climb. 1st place was at 10:59, 2nd and 3rd were both at 11:28, and I was at 11:29. Sigh. Much deserved lecturing from TCTMJ about not paying attention and not making every pedal stroke count.
There was about 3 and a half hours between the tt and the rr. I had a nap with the dogs. TCTMJ went for a ride on the course.
Stage Two: Road Race
The course was hilly and windy. It started with the four-mile climb from the TT course, then did a big out, back, out the other way, and back again loop with lots of BIG rollers and wind. I was very excited about the course, thinking it was going to play nicely to my moose-strength. But…spanner in the works: we were racing with the cat 4 men and 16-17 juniors. This made the field a) much bigger, b) much sketchier, c) much faster. All the women had lined up at the back, but sensing that cat 4 men would like to go hard from the gun, I went to the very front. The whistle went, I slammed it into the big ring and took off, lamenting my lack of a warm-up. I did the climb in 11:29 the first time, and around 10:30 with the pack. Ouch.
Big rollers, some scary handling, lots of attrition, first turn around. 20 miles in or so I got gapped on a climb. I spent the next 25 miles chasing back, the majority of the time with one other cat 4 guy. We worked up through the cars, he eased up. I kept going hard. I just caught back on to the last person in the group when it surged of the top of a hill. #&$@%&*!!!!! That was the end of that chase. I got to the second turn around are rode the final 11 miles into a ridiculous headwind killing myself hoping people would keep popping off. Kirsten from Cynergy and Stephanie from Colavita-Vegas stayed in the group and finished 1-2 in the GC. I came in 7 minutes after, solo, my lungs on fire from the dry desert air. I haven’t worked that hard in a while. Sigh. It was a fun ride, and it was good to know that I could chase back to a group like that.
Eat Eat Eat. I didn’t eat enough during the race and was starving after. I ate A LOT. Then fell asleep at 7:30. TCTMJ and TCTMa C and F entertained themselves at the Hacienda.
Stage 3: Crit
My journey to becoming a menacing crit rider continued on track in the race. The course was fun: a chicane, climb, descent, big sweeping corner, 125 meters to the finish. 45 minutes of fun. I decided to go to the front kind of hard right away. This is good for me. I get to test out the corners, my legs, and get a sense of everyone else’s mood. The last corner was giving me some trouble and it took me a while to figure it out. I went for the first two primes and came in 3rd and 2nd for both of them. Then the corner finally clicked. They announced a $100 prime with 6 to go. I attacked on the climb, about 0.5 miles from the line, came first out of the final corner and won. Yay. Hilary from Banning’s was on my wheel and we tried to get away. Like every other attempt to get away in the race, Colavita brought us back. I stayed at the front (I think I was on the very front for about 90% of the race). On the final time of the hill I punched it a bit. On the descent Alicia from Banning’s came around and put herself in a great spot. Through the corner Hilary came up on the inside. They went 1-2 and I came in 3rd. Fantastic.
Final GC : 1st -- Kirsten Darley, Cynergy; 2nd – Stephanie Bissonnette, Colavita-Vegas; 3rd -- ME! Touchstone!
Overall it was a good weekend. It was encouraging to see that my climbing is coming along quite nicely. I got in some fantastic riding in the road race, and I was able to keep figuring out crits. A lot of people asked about my car shelter. Here it is. Oooh. And I lost $20 in the luxurious Hacienda Casino.
My Touchstone teammates raced in NorCal at the Merco Grand Prix. They did great in a strong international field.
Up next: This weekend is going to be a Cara Appreciation Weekend!! No racing. No travel. Just lots of fun. Of course the next two weeks will involve hard hard training, a couple of smaller stage races, and then Redlands. gulp.
Supèr-Fantastique!
Saturday: 5.5k hill climb, 92k road race
Sunday: 0.8 mile 6 corner, 45 minute crit.
Results:
4th Hill Climb
3rd Road Race
3rd Crit
3rd GC
Here’s my auto-interview:
Callville Bay Classic Stage Race (formerly Southern Nevada Stage
It was a fun weekend and pretty relaxing overall. TCTMJ and TCTMa (team cara team mascots) C and F came with me to lovely Lake Mead in Boulder City NV (just outside of Vegas). We stayed at the Hacienda Hotel and Casino. Hmmm. They allow pets. That’s all I’ll say about it. It was awesome having TCTMJ with me. It takes off so much stress. My trainer gets set up, my bottles get filled, my numbers get pinned, and I get tones of… shall we say “constructive” criticism.
Stage One: Hill Climb
So the climb was advertised as 6.5 km. It wasn’t. I should have paid more attention when we drove it. I kept saving some for the “kicker” not realizing I was on it. Oh well. I was in 4th after the hill climb. 1st place was at 10:59, 2nd and 3rd were both at 11:28, and I was at 11:29. Sigh. Much deserved lecturing from TCTMJ about not paying attention and not making every pedal stroke count.
L'orignal is focused at the start of the tt.
There was about 3 and a half hours between the tt and the rr. I had a nap with the dogs. TCTMJ went for a ride on the course.
Stage Two: Road Race
The course was hilly and windy. It started with the four-mile climb from the TT course, then did a big out, back, out the other way, and back again loop with lots of BIG rollers and wind. I was very excited about the course, thinking it was going to play nicely to my moose-strength. But…spanner in the works: we were racing with the cat 4 men and 16-17 juniors. This made the field a) much bigger, b) much sketchier, c) much faster. All the women had lined up at the back, but sensing that cat 4 men would like to go hard from the gun, I went to the very front. The whistle went, I slammed it into the big ring and took off, lamenting my lack of a warm-up. I did the climb in 11:29 the first time, and around 10:30 with the pack. Ouch.
In the group during the rr.
Big rollers, some scary handling, lots of attrition, first turn around. 20 miles in or so I got gapped on a climb. I spent the next 25 miles chasing back, the majority of the time with one other cat 4 guy. We worked up through the cars, he eased up. I kept going hard. I just caught back on to the last person in the group when it surged of the top of a hill. #&$@%&*!!!!! That was the end of that chase. I got to the second turn around are rode the final 11 miles into a ridiculous headwind killing myself hoping people would keep popping off. Kirsten from Cynergy and Stephanie from Colavita-Vegas stayed in the group and finished 1-2 in the GC. I came in 7 minutes after, solo, my lungs on fire from the dry desert air. I haven’t worked that hard in a while. Sigh. It was a fun ride, and it was good to know that I could chase back to a group like that.
Solo finish (not the good kind of solo finish)
Eat Eat Eat. I didn’t eat enough during the race and was starving after. I ate A LOT. Then fell asleep at 7:30. TCTMJ and TCTMa C and F entertained themselves at the Hacienda.
Stage 3: Crit
My journey to becoming a menacing crit rider continued on track in the race. The course was fun: a chicane, climb, descent, big sweeping corner, 125 meters to the finish. 45 minutes of fun. I decided to go to the front kind of hard right away. This is good for me. I get to test out the corners, my legs, and get a sense of everyone else’s mood. The last corner was giving me some trouble and it took me a while to figure it out. I went for the first two primes and came in 3rd and 2nd for both of them. Then the corner finally clicked. They announced a $100 prime with 6 to go. I attacked on the climb, about 0.5 miles from the line, came first out of the final corner and won. Yay. Hilary from Banning’s was on my wheel and we tried to get away. Like every other attempt to get away in the race, Colavita brought us back. I stayed at the front (I think I was on the very front for about 90% of the race). On the final time of the hill I punched it a bit. On the descent Alicia from Banning’s came around and put herself in a great spot. Through the corner Hilary came up on the inside. They went 1-2 and I came in 3rd. Fantastic.
L'orignal at the front.
Final GC : 1st -- Kirsten Darley, Cynergy; 2nd – Stephanie Bissonnette, Colavita-Vegas; 3rd -- ME! Touchstone!
The Podium (no I'm not standing on anything)
Overall it was a good weekend. It was encouraging to see that my climbing is coming along quite nicely. I got in some fantastic riding in the road race, and I was able to keep figuring out crits. A lot of people asked about my car shelter. Here it is. Oooh. And I lost $20 in the luxurious Hacienda Casino.
My Touchstone teammates raced in NorCal at the Merco Grand Prix. They did great in a strong international field.
Up next: This weekend is going to be a Cara Appreciation Weekend!! No racing. No travel. Just lots of fun. Of course the next two weeks will involve hard hard training, a couple of smaller stage races, and then Redlands. gulp.
Supèr-Fantastique!
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