Redlands Women's Cycling Clinic + Ontario Criterium

Ah Monday, back to work. I'm sad because all I can think about is cycling right now. I even rewatched Cavendish take the opening stage of the Tour of California during breakfast this morning. I'm also in the process of building up a new bike. I have a couple Sram Red components coming in the mail and my Cervelo S2 is being delivered to my LBS and will be arriving at the end of this month. Oh, and I got my US Cycling license so I can officially call myself a racer now! Woo hoo. I'm definitely looking forward to future races, especially with the confidence and skills I gained at the Redlands Clinic and Ontario Criterium over the weekend.

A picture I stole from someone off Facebook. I forgot my camera! Doh!

Overall the clinic was a good experience. You don't need to arrive as early as they suggest- I got there around 6:15. We got on our bikes around 9am and there wasn't really any important information dished out til just a couple minutes before. I had breakfast on the way since my body needs a really long time to digest before rides, but they served a typical cycling breakfast buffet (bagels, bananas, yogurt.)

I was part of the C (racers and wannabe racers) group. The first couple of exercises of the day focused on cornering. We started off with the basics and practiced weight shifting on different obstacles around the church parking lot. We then rode a short distance to do a couple of hill repeats.

The best part of the clinic for me was the Mock Crit. I really wish we could have spent more time on this portion of the clinic, and I wish we could have ramped up the difficulty level. We rode in a very small group so there wasn't the crazy feeling of being in a tight pack like in a real crit, but at least we got to practice attacking and counterattacking, and I managed to stay in the breakaway for a lap and come in 3rd (out of a dozen people, but I'm still proud, hahaha.) Anyway it's probably difficult to cater a clinic to everyone's skill levels but well, it was kind of expensive! In the end though, it's worth it, especially for the sake of support women's cycling. I mean, there were 100 women out there! The event was a success. Oh also they fed us Chipotle for lunch. (I think that was the second best part of the clinic.)

The Ontario Criterium on Sunday... Oh I made a HUGE mistake. I was doing great and felt so confident during the race- I had a good start and I managed to stay in the top 1/3 of the pack the whole time, but I was so focused on the people around me that I didn't pay attention to the announcer. It felt like the race was nearing the end and I heard the bell and sprinted as hard as I could towards the finish line! I started to slow down and realized the entire field was still moving... and I realized that it was only the sprint lap!!! No!!! I felt so embarassed and dejected I pulled out of the race and found a corner to sulk in.

I'm still embarassed but I really regret not finishing the race. I could have sprinted back in or at least tried to- even knowing that I tried would somewhat erase this small black mark in my memory... Even worse I left the race without notifying my significant other, so he assumed I had crashed...

Needless to say we left Ontario in a pretty foul mood, but after talking it over and getting attitude adjustment towards racing I'm ready to go out there again and start learning. I'll be at the OC Crit this Thursday seeing how well I can hang with the 4/5 guys. Hopefully their reputation doesn't precede them.