Dramarama! With this weekends points being 3x more, everyone was putting the hammer down for omnium and national spots. Whilst the latter did not really apply to our humble team, we still went out and rode hard and came out victorious.
We drove up north on Friday evening and stayed in Vallejo at my folks place. We were fed hella and then we played some ball. Long story short, it is a good thing we are not a basketball team. After that we had a LAN party and ate some more and watched a movie and went to sleep. The next morning, Meg and I woke up early and left for the road race while the boys slept in and joined us later that day. We got to the parking area around 9 and parked in a sea of grass, then we regged and schmoozed a bit. Teams were finishing up with the TTT's and we were as fresh as daisies. Suckers. But anyway, we get dressed, etc etc etc. And then it was game time!
Coming into the weekend, I was sitting 3rd in the omnium, and considering road races are not my strong point, I knew that I could only limit my losses for this race. But after my prior recon of the course and good sensations in my legs, I was ready to take it on. We lined up, and were told we'd be starting separate from the C's again. Hooray! There were 19 of us, and I was focused on not crashing and not being stuck in that latter 4 no point spots. Anyway we started with Poly pulling us through the fast downhill tailwind sections and I moved my way up to the front before hitting the first few rollers. We climbed them fast and hard. I stayed at the front going left into the first real kicker, and Davis' Kristin Parrinella and Bekah Rottenberg launched an attack. I waited for the field to respond and then I sat in the draft and followed knowing that the gravel section was coming up soon. The Davis girls were only some 200 meters ahead of us when they hit the gravel, and the field started yelling "Gravel!!!!!" as we finally took to it. This is when the field split and 8 of us started to chase down the 2 Davis girls. It was Meg and me, Lisette and Patz (UCSB), Rachel and Jen (Stanford), Lia and Amanda (Davis), and we were able to catch Kristin and Bekah easily still in the first gravel section. Everyone rode pretty well over it, and once we were back on the pavement, we started flying. After the gravel were some kicking rollers and this is where we dropped Patz, then Amanda. So it was just 8 of us in the lead group and into the headwind towards the turnaround we went. We did a nice little rotating paceline which seemed like forever until we got to the feed zone and turnaround. At the feed zone, Kristin went up to the front and picked up the pace and Stanford yelled at her not to attack in the feedzone. At the turn around, she took it too hot and took a fall in the gravel at the side of the road as Meg fell over her. It looked like they were playing Twister. Lia was quick to take to the front and we flew back on course with the tailwind. SB started to ask "aren't you going to check if your teammates are ok?" to Lia and me, but we knew they were as they bridged back up to us before we hit the hills again. We continued our paceline and fortunately before the left turn into the steep hill, I was at the front and attacked up it. Kristin was the first one to respond and we rode through the rollers and the group was fast to reel us back in. We hit the gravel for the second and last time and I was more lax about it this time around. We took it faster and closer, I sat 6th wheel in our straight line. There were two gravel sections: the first was not as bad as there were many clear lines to ride in as well as a small climb and rollys, the second was a straight up gravel pit where lines began and ended randomly. Like Ryland said, it was sketch like DaVinci. We took to the second gravel section faster. We were less than a km away from the pavement when things went south. As we rolled in a straightish line through the gravel pit, Jen from Stanford who was at the front or somewhere near there, started to fishtail really bad and my eyes were on her knowing that she was gonna go down. In that instance, I guess I was not paying attention to my line and all of a sudden my bike fishtails and I fall on my left hard. Lia, who was right behind me goes down as well. I look up and the group rolls away. I jumped up immediately, and Lia and I are yelling at each other "ARE YOU OK?!" "WE CAN STILL GET THEM!" She goes "WE CAN CATCH THEM! FORMER TEAMMATES! LET'S DO IT!". Total adrenaline rush, I hop on my bike not even checking to see if it was ok and we haul. Luckily, no flats and it was shifting, but my brakes were fucked up and getting stuck so I just disengaged them. No time to brake anyway. Lia flies and drops my ass hard and the group is totally out of eye sight at this point. I yell some expletives and ride harder, finally bridging back up to Lia at the hills. I drop Lia and I was off into the wind by myself trying my hardest to catch back up to the group, where ever they were. I turned right into the final several miles to the finish and tried to find my inner Cancellara into the head wind. It was tough. I was scared to be caught by anyone behind me but no one did, and I put my head down and went. I was never able to get back in contact with the pack, but I finished 7th ahead of Sally and Amanda which was all I was concerned about, blood splattered all over my leg and arm. Man it hurt, but it was all good. My mom cleaned it all up cause the EMTs were out by the gravel (boooo Davis). Meg got 5th, rolling in with a flat less than 1 km away from the line. Despite it all, we were solid and I was stoked. It was the boys turn to race. Rigo looked strong and came in 5th, while Ricardo and Carmi peaced out and lived to fight another day. Eff this road race.
That night, we stayed at Stephen's and Colin and Jackie came up. It was fun times in the Wassather house as we played Wii and ate hella and went out to get gauze and froyo. I learned that a toronja is a grapefruit. Meg and I cleaned our bikes too. They were hella dirty. My bike was working ok. I was ready to win it the next day, the crit or omnium. So we get up bright and early and get to Davis. It was quite nippy and all the start times were pushed back like hella cause of cars on the course and what not. I had an ok warm up and my buddies came up all the way from Santa Cruz to watch!
Anyway, not much to say about the crit. It was probably the most fast and aggressive one our category has ever had. We took the corners really tight and it freaked a lot of the girls out. Davis kept making solo attacks which were reeled in quickly. I don't know why they never tried a group break. Anyway, I did the best I could to respond to every attack and acceleration made by them and UCSB, but mostly I wheel sucked. I enjoyed the help from Rachel from Stanford, and I knew I had to be sitting at least 4th wheel out of the last turn into the finish to contend the win. Long story short, I found it hard to gain position in the last lap with all the turns and I came out of the turn in 10th position and was able to move up to get an 8th, not being able to edge out Cal Poly at the line. After the race, I was getting anxious about the omnium standing and did some calculations in my head. Considering Sally finished ahead of me that race, I thought that she had secured the omnium. I was a little bummed, but if anyone was to take it, I wanted it to be her.
Anyway, next was Stephen with C's. Stephen was looking pretty good until about halfway through where a crash happened somewhere on the backside and we saw a bunch of guys running to the line for a free lap. The pack came around and Stephen was missing. We go in search of him and it turns out he went down, but he and the bike were ok. Sucks, but his spirits were still high which was great. Colin and Ricardo were next with B's. They looked pretty good. Colin was up in the front at a few points. Ricardo was able to get a free lap on account of a loose skewer. Both of them looked pretty strong and they finished well. Carmi was up for A's. He killed it as usual, countering attacks and looking strong throughout. He finished well within the pack. Good job boys!
During the A's, Amanda had come up to me to tell me I had won omnium, with Sally 2nd, and she rounding it up in 3rd, as told to her by Hanns, though we would have to double check. I did not believe her cause I told her I did the math and Sally edged me out. But then she informed me that the road race was weighted heavier than the crit. Anyway, long story short, it turns out that the dark horse contender Kristin Parrinella from Davis performed well enough this weekend to overtake Meg, Amanda, Sally, and I in the omnium, from 6th to 1st, pulling a huge upset for the 3 of us that were at the top. It was a surprise for all of us and I was really upset cause the points were so fucking close! It sucked, I wanted that maillot jaune. It was totally bittersweet, but in retrospect, this was the best season Meg or I had ever had. The best part is actually having both of us high up in the ranks, no coaches, no help from a huge team in the field, or anything like that, underdogs for sure. But of course, it definitely wasn't possible without having all of your guyses' support. Seriously, you guys are the best and we will kill it again next year. A's or bust
