My race prep started at 4am Saturday morning when Huckleberry woke us up making some bad gagging, retching sounds. He coughed up some pieces of a bone he'd eaten the day before and it seemed his throat had gotten irritated. Otherwise, he was fine and happy we were up to pay attention to him. Katie and I made coffee and laid plans for Sunday. During the day, Lucas helped wash a few bikes (including Brian's bike, you're welcome!) and I did bike tuning/repairs on 5 bikes. I did a 1x conversion on the last of our loaner bikes that was still 2x - this required a run to Rhythm Bikes for a new derailleur hanger (is was bent and cracked when I straightened it). Katie and I went down to the trailer in Alameda to get pit benches and other stuff. On the way home we stopped by CycloSports for a new disc rotor for Lucas's bike. Saw Coach Dara and Gareth there! Also met Daniel, one of the CycloSports employees and a former OC racer from before Morgan's time. He wants to help at the races and maybe coach!
Finally after dinner, I went to work on my bike. I tried to address the terrible creaking noises it was making, but didn't have enough time and just made things worse. Gave up and packed up the van. Ended up getting to bed later than I should have.
Woke up at 4am(!), made coffee, loaded up the loaner bikes and Brian's bike on the bike rack, woke up Lucas and William, Max Fritsch arrived at 5am for carpooling, and we were off at 5:10. The drive up was brutal. The insane winds kept shoving the van over into the lane to my right. My arms were aching by the time we got to Sacramento - I was worried I would be too sore to ride! Fortunately it was calmer just past Sacramento. Weather was nice when we pulled in to Granite Bay. Cold-ish, but not terrible. Parked, unloaded, set up the pit, got everyone registered and changed for pre-ride.
Pre-ride itself was sloppy, I'll admit! Everyone was ready around 8:00, and kids started getting cold. So we decided to get moving, but it was a bit on the early side. We did a quick lap on trails that were open, and swung back by the pit at 8:20. Coach Scott and I took a group of kids out for a pre-ride/"real" warmup. I intended to go out about 12-15 minutes turn around and get back just before 9am. I misjudged the length of the return leg, and we got back at ~9:08 just as the waves were starting! Not good! Well, this is why Coach Tom runs warmups and we use stationary trainers – can't get lost on a trainer!
I jumped into the back of the Men's 40+ Sport wave, and we were off. I was chilling at the back for a bit with Coach Greg, but I started to get upset with myself for messing up the warmup and decided to ride off my frustration. So I upped the power and started picking off people I'd let go at the start. I love Granite Bay, and I really like chasing people down, catching my breath and then finding a spot to make a move for the pass. The course was surprisingly uncrowded for me, except for all the technical uphills - at each of those someone was stopped blocking me from clearing it. Finally, I was on the wheel of a guy I thought might be my pace. But after the parking lot at the far end of the course, I realized I had way more to give and passed him and felt really strong! The first high schoolers started passing me on the uphill of the little "extra" out-and-back loop – they were moving fast! Nearly crashed on the downhill where one turn was much tighter than the rest. Oops! I hammered the road and flats at the end of lap 1 and turned for lap 2, feeling great.
On lap 2, after the long road burn section, I had a clean run at the technical uphill bit and cleaned it, but at the top Claire was stopped with a jammed chain. I stopped to fix it and check on her. She said she was doing OK but her throat was scratchy and she might be coming down with some sort of illness. But she insisted she'd be fine. Just when I was ready to start again, a wave of fast riders came up and I didn't feel like jumping in front of them. Then the guy I'd paced with during lap 1 came by, and a bit of my competitive fire got snuffed out. I restarted and had fun on the downhill to the parking lot, but was thinking about Claire's situation. The coach instinct kicked in and I ended my race. I waited at the parking lot for Claire and cheered for all the Oakland riders as they came by. Everyone looked great!
Finally, Claire made it down the hill. She wanted to keep going, so off we went. We got passed a lot! Claire was really good about it, but it was eye-opening for me. It definitely induces some anxiety to be passed so much. I explained to Claire that the NorCal races would be *much* better because the fields are more evenly matched. You don't have professional sponsored riders on the same course as a beginner freshman girl! I also have to say that the high school kids were so polite about passing compared to the adults. "Rider back... Passing left... One more... Thank you!" vs. "*hrrrumph*... More kids cheered on Claire than adults.
Claire was a trooper and I was amazed at how well she was doing for only taking up mountain biking 3+ months ago. But I could also tell she was running out of steam – understandable when you starting to get ill. When we got to the part of the course where you turn for the "add-on" loop, we took a shortcut and jumped on the road right by the feedzone. Claire rallied the last part of the lap and we turned for the finish. It was really cool listening to everyone cheer for Claire - I was proud of her!
I finally caught up with Katie who I hadn't seen since before warm-ups started. She was doing an amazing job of keeping up with everyone's situation and cheering them in! I found out Lucas had gotten taken out by an out-of-control kid at the start and was unable to continue his race. This bummed me out. Also, sleep deprivation and frustration about the messed up warm up started to catch up to me. But I just set that aside, greeted everyone at the finish and shared their experience of the race. Lots of smiles and some adversities (mostly overcome). William had a super fun lap and destroyed the Beginner Boys field of 1! After the awards ceremony it was time to load up the van and head home. The pit was all broken down and ready (thanks to everyone who did this!), I just had to stuff it all in the van. But still, this was the hardest part of the day - I was toast and wanted to be home, asleep.
I drove back because Katie doesn't like driving the van, and really doesn't like driving in dangerous high winds in a high sided van. The only neurons in my brain that were functioning at this point were the ones keeping the van on the road. We got back home and our power was out. Didn't matter to me, because I flopped into bed and passed out!
I want to apologize again to the kids I made late for the start, and coach Scott who was sweeping that group! I also really, really want to thank Katie for how much she does for the team and how much she keeps me going as coach! I wish all of you could know how much energy she puts in without wanting any attention for it, but suffice it to say that it's A LOT!
Finally, I want to let everyone know how proud I am of all of you for getting to where we are in the season so far! I saw a lot of you so pumped after your first race. Everyone's getting really fit, and your bike skills are sharp! Some of you wondered what all the fuss was about Granite Bay - it wasn't as hard as I made it out to be. That is music to my ears! We're so close to getting into the super-fun part of the season: racing and weekday rides. I am stoked!
