Oh Boy. I have been remiss in my blogging. Too much racing. Ugh.

I went and raced with the cat A men. Fun. First was a TT. I was cooked after PEI and didn’t even care that I didn’t have a tt bike. Whatever. 90 minutes later was the road race. After some negotiation, we agreed to up the distance to 80 km (8 laps of a 10km hilly loop, with a steep kicker over the line). It was neutral til the top of the climb on the first lap. Then, because I was feeling spicy, I jumped. I got off the front with Jeff C (who was out wrench at PEI). We stayed away for 4 laps, then two bridged up to us. Then it started to rain – not the easy socal sprinkle, but the torrential thunderstorms with wind and lightening and hail of the Maritimes. Ugh. Jeff fell off the pace, then I got freaked out on the descent (how lame is that?!) and did a lap solo before the group caught me. Worked with the group, trying to minimize gap to Adam (the only guy who remained up the road). Last time up the climb the group shattered. I came in 7th or 8th and ended up in 8th gc. Yay!

Time Trial
20km hilly, then not hilly, some cornering, out and back
TCTMC/J flew out my TT bike and was very awesome while in Quebec.  I rode the course twice the day before the race.  This was good because it was a pretty hilly course and it was good to know that a) I could hit all the climbs in my big ring (54-27, but only a 12 on the small side) and b) could take many of the corners (except one of them) hot.  It started to rain during the TT.  Ugh.  Although I was used to the rain by now.  I quickly realized that I had made a major miscalculation when practicing the course:  since it’s an out and back, the corners were all coned.  Ugh.  So much for my perfect lines.  The climbs felt great, but I had some major focus lapses on the flats and my corners sucked.  I came in 9th.  4-9th were all within 25 seconds, so I was extra bummed.  My PEI teammate Tara won by a landslide.  Anne Samplonius pull off an amazing save when her brakes failed going into a sharp corner after a 2km descent. 
Wow.




Road Race
Hilly 47.5km loop, 135km total
It’s been a while, so I’m foggy now.  Erinne W went super early.  Anne S was attacking every 10 seconds (or so it seemed) I got up the road a few times but was very passive on the last lap.  The course was mostly the same as last year, but there were some extra kms added that contained a good super-orbital.  I rode much smarter and made all the splits.  Coming into the final few kms I was in a great spot but, alas, am still growing sprinter balls and got really tentative when there was typical filed sprint chaos (lots of bumping and an unfortunate unclipping/swinging across the road with 200m to go).  I ended up 12th.  Sigh.  I think the only was I could have done better was to go with about 4km to go and hope for the best or be WAY for aggressive in the sprint.  I have a bike modification coming up which should help with that

Fitchburg:
This was ridiculous.  But Olivia was flying back from Ireland and I was getting rained on in Canada, so we thought it would be a good idea.

TT:  flatish, 14km (I think) FOGGY wet fun!
Olivia was in 6th after the TT, I was in 30 something.  Whatever.  There was some major bike drama before, but it all worked out.

Circuit:  Short loop BIG STEEP climb.  ugh
The circuit race was uneventful.  I did some work early on, but Colavita was really running the show.  There was a crash, but mostly it was uneventful.  Tina Pic and Kelly Benjamin were incredible up the hill.  Olivia finished in the top 10 and held on to  6th.  I finished in the main group.  Blah

RR:  OK -- this course is ridiculou.  11 mile loop with a very fast non-technical descent and then some ridiculous climbing.  Ugh.  And apparently it was an easier loop course than last year.
The road race, which was much harder than I though, was a lot more work.  I attacked on the second lap and got away with a Team Type 1 for a while.  Lipsmackers chased us down.  On the climb before the last lap lots of attacks were going.  Olivia was worried, so I covered about 4 of them in a row and then totally blew up on the climb.  ouch.   That was fine though because Olivia could just sit in until the last climb. I died.  Even with a 29 I thought I was going to fall over.  I dropped from 20th gc to 50th (shit!).  Olivia stayed in 6th.

Crit:  A big out and back loop on a hill, similar to Manhattan Beach.
The crit was actually fun and ultimately pretty uneventful. Jeannie Longo is insane.  She takes some very tight lines.  It was impressive. Overall everything  ended up working out well and Olivia  kept her 6th gc.

Will I go back to Fitchburg?  Yes -- I need to get the best of that stupid road course.  ugh

Cascade: This will be brief.
Not being the world's best climber I’m not sure what I was thinking.  The first day I got heat stroke and  had to go to medical.  Two teammates, Kristina and Holly, had to push me the last 10 km.  Ironically enough it was two Canadians who ended up suffering from the heat in the medical tent.  HA!

After much ice and fluids, I bounced back.  The next day three of us were covering attacks trying to get someone in a break.  Olivia got into the break with about 30 miles until the base of the climb.  I spent the rest of the race keeping Ruth near the front and out of trouble (there were lots of crashes in the first two days).  Our plan was to keep the pace high until the climb kicked up.  Since we were down to three riders plus the climber, I brought Ruth up and drilled it (or at least I thought.)  Of course I then exploded when the climb kicked up, but everyone else did really well. The following day was the TT.  It went fine.  Nothing too exciting. Ruth got 5th (and she's 50!).  The 4th day was the best day for me. A break got away at the very beginning and Olivia and I were launching attacks trying to bridge, but Tibco wouldn't let us go.  That break got brought back and then there were tonnes of attacks.  Olivia got in one break and as that was getting brought back I attacked.  8 people (I think) eventually bridged up to me and we stayed away until the base of the climb.   Only 3 or 4 of us were working the break so, once again, when the climb came, I was done.  This was ok though, since our climber attacked as myself and the several others in the break were coming back on the climb.  The crit sucked. Actually, the crit was fine, I sucked.  I made the time cut and then the director told me to shut it down.  The final day was WAY harder than I expected. Everyone was saying the course would be easier than the Redlands Circuit.  They were clearly insane.  I tried to help Olivia and Ruth at the beginning (I'm a pretty good descender and just tried to keep the pace high) but I was clearly cooked.  I came off on the second lap and finished with a grupetto.
Done.  Finally.
Yay