Last weekend, we had the opportunity to race the Redlands Classic. It's the first National Racing Calendar race of the year and it was really exciting to be there! This is the first year that they included all of the paracycling categories. In the past, they only had a hand cycling category.
It was a busy week. There was a national team camp in Chula Vista. So I drove down to San Diego on Monday and then did the Honey Springs Time Trial with the team on Tuesday. That time trial continues to get the best of me.
We left late Wednesday morning and drove to Big Bear to ride the time trial course around Big Bear Lake.
We drove down the mountain to the technical meeting, ate dinner and then drove back up the mountain to sleep and get ready for the time trial the next morning.
We stayed at The Robinhood Resort. It was adorable! I spent the morning before the time trial in the common area, in front of the fire place. The room was a little retro, but it was comfortable.
On Friday morning, we went to breakfast and then rode over to the time trial. I was overwhelmed with awe because of all the pro team riders that I were next to us. I, of course cementing my coolness, took a picture of my cyclist crush team, Vanderkitten. Yup, super not #pro. But I didn't care.
The time trial was short - only about 5 miles. It had a semi-steep pitchy hill and the rest was pretty rolly. I paced it incorrectly. I essentially rode two pursuits - one at the beginning, a crap shoot in the middle, and when I saw the 3k sign I did another pursuit. It wasn't a terrible effort, but I still have a lot to learn about time trialing.
But, since there were no other C1-3 women competing....I WIN! First and last. Always first and last place!
The plan was to drive down the mountain, drive to Irvine and do another time trial at Great Park that night. When we got to the bottom, FF didn't want to go to Irvine. An executive decision was made and we got a room in Redlands. I wanted to race the second time trial, but I guess since this happened at dinner that night, FF might have had a good idea!
The next morning was the road race in Beaumont. To be fair, it was really a circuit race. We did 7 laps in an hour. It was much more fun racing with others than the time trial. I was dropped from the upright single bike guys pretty quickly. I rode alone for a few laps until Steve Peace and Monica Basicio caught up to me. We "worked together" through the last few laps. By that, I mean I sat on Peace's wheels through the wind and then sprinted through the line so it didn't look like I was drafting off a trike. Ya, that happened. I thought we were going to be done at six laps, but Ian announced as I sprinted through the line that we had one more lap. I was not pleased about THAT! But it did teach me that I had more left in the tank than I thought I had.
While we were waiting for the podium, I got a chance to oggle the pros at the start of their road race.
And so we arrived at another podium ceremony.
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