Sportsmanship

This weekend marked the end of the Greenville Spring Training Series hosted by the Greenville Spinners Club & Hincapie Sports.  A huge thanks to all the officials & volunteers that made the series happen!

So... what happened this weekend?  I went to bed Friday thinking I was a little off.  My nutrition wasn't as good as I thought it needed to be and I felt somewhat lethargic.  The hubby and I were both racing Saturday... 1 1/2 hours apart... so I took advantage of that extra hour of sleep before heading out to watch him race.

The River Falls course in Marietta, SC represents the first race I had ever finished in my first year of cycling last year.  After signing up for the entire Spring Training Series in 2009 I was side-lined by a serious upper-respiratory infection.  This time I came into the final weekend with 4 2010 finishes under my belt.

The loop is under 6 miles and starts with a fast downhill to a quick right hand turn.  The next bit has a short incline followed by some flat sections and another downhill (notice the downhill trend?).  A sharp turn awaits you at River Falls Road where you've got more flat to rolling sections.  Last is another sharp turn onto Gap Creek Rd... and this is where all the descending bites you in the rear... a one mile climb awaits!

The climb isn't that steep, it isn't that long... but when you've got to do it three times in a race... it spreads out the field!  The 1km sign shows up at the steepest section and one you see the 200m sign it's an all out downhill sprint to the finish.

 

 The hubby finishing up his race

I did a warm-up on the big climb with my teammate Robin, Coach, & another racer, Jenn Young.   That was all I was willing to do given that I wanted to get back to cheer on the hubby!

After his finish we got lined up and expected the officials to keep all the women together.  However on this day there was such a big group of Pro, 1, 2, 3s, that they separated us and dropped the Cat 4 laps from 5 down to 3... Hmm... You mean I only have to climb that hill 3 times instead of 5? OKAY!

 

Jenn, Robin, & I ready to start the race.

We started off at a pretty steady clip.  The girls who sat in 2nd & 3rd in the omnium were controlling the race.  They tried to get off the front a few times but not many people wanted to get out front and pull them.  As we reached the climb on the first lap... I got dropped... At the top of it I was with Jenn Young and she and I worked together to bridge back to the group about a mile or so up the road.

We hung in until the end of the second lap when we got dropped again on the climb.  This time we were dropped pretty quickly and had to work really hard to bridge back to the lead group... We passed a couple of other girls who had been dropped on the climb and pulled them back with us.  As we caught the rear of the field... I reached out my hand to high five Jenn.  Even though we're not teammates... we were in this together & needed each other to stay in the race!

We only had a couple miles this time to catch our breathe and hold on before the last climb.  The pace was excruciatingly slow before we hit the climb.  And that's when people started to pound it out.  I found the wheel of a strong rider and thought of the Paris Mtn Repeats Trainer class I did earlier in the week with coach.  1 - 2 - 3- 4... 1 - 2 - 3 - 4... Over and over again was pounding in my head.  There was some girls ahead of me... but I was passing some as well.  I heard Steve Sperry yelling for my former teammate Elizabeth Brady to sprint... I realized I need to be sprinting too!  I shifted into my big chain ring, hit the drops and got my rear out of the saddle to sprint to the finish.  I crossed the finish line feeling great and gave a little first pump...

Now... I'm incredibly competitive and annoyingly anal retentive.  Meaning I knew exactly who was ahead of me in the omnium and who was very close to catching me.  Before this race I was sitting in 6th place, 3 points behind 5th & 6 points ahead of 7th.  My goal was to get enough points to overtake 5th place or be close.  My sprint at the end put me in 6th place for the race.  The ladies sitting in 4th place and 7th place in the omnium switched spots and I was now only 1 point out of 5th & 2 points out of 4th!

Great work by Jenn Young to grab another top 10 finish... and Robin & Jeni to finish this crazy beautiful course.

 Hit downtown after the race to celebrate with friends...

Projects & Mowbray Mtn...

I have a love hate relationship with my project... and Mowbray Mtn. The first sometimes affects the latter...

1 - This project is both a godsend and hell on earth at times. I love 90% of the people I work with... really. I've made some amazing friends and great business contacts over the past year. That being said, the 10% of whom I can not stand... make the most noise and sometimes make me want to pull my hair out. Which leads to a difficult decision. I have the opportunity to leave this project and join another one where I would have more of a managerial role. A bit of a quandry and the pros & cons with either decision are:

Current Project -
Pro - Those 90%
Con - Those 10%
Pro - I can bring my kicka$$ new Madone 5.5 w/ SRAM Force every week w/ the hope to ride w/ the local bike club
Con - Most of the time my beautiful new bike just sits in the hotel room b/c of the work day never ending
Pro - 4 hours driving distance from home meaning I can change my schedule rather easily to be here early or go home early...
Con - Atlanta Monday morning & Thur evening traffic
Pro - Hotel is awesome and right next to a great gym
Con - Losing airline status/miles
Pro - Relatively easy role
Con - Too easy role
Pro - Met some great locals who I ride and hang out with
Con - Ever changing scope
Pro - Get to see how my company & this customer shutdown a project
Con - Project may never end
Pro - Customer really likes me and mentioned they'll pay extra to keep me
Con - Working weekends / Can't ever make weekend plans w/ hubby & friends (&)
Con - Constantly packing for multiple weeks b/c never know if I'll have to work the weekend

New Project:
Pro - Mgmt Role
Con - On the Left Coast
Pro - San Diego rocks!
Con - Flying to CA every week
Pro - Great riding
Con - Can't ride my new Madone
Pro - Can ship my old Madone 4.5 there (hence why I bought the new Madone)
Con - Thursday night red-eyes
Pro - More miles and better airline status
Con - More hours clocked in a plane
Pro - Can sleep while on a flight... can't do that currently while driving...
Con - One less night at home w/ the hubby
Pro - New Client
Con - New Client could be as difficult as current one
Pro - Project is from the new group I belong to at work
Con - Could be short-term and then have me on the bench
Pro - Could be long-term and a real career booster
Con - Unknown regarding the folks I'll be working with
Pro - More consistent than current project
Pro - My manager's manager's manager had me in mind to go to this project

Okay... lots of pros and cons... and they aren't exactly one for one... I'm leaning toward staying... but really torn...

2 - Mowbray Mtn... when I do get away from work at a reasonable hour on Tuesdays... I join the local bike club for a 34 mile jaunt... through some rollers and up to... Mowbray Mtn. A 3 mile 6-7% grade climb that at 8 or 9 am would be perfectly fine... but by the time I'm at the base of the climb... which is normally 6:45 pm... I might feel like a million bucks... or I might want to just go to bed... The last two weeks... it's been the latter. But... when asked the question, "You climbing tonight?" Is there any other answer other than, "of course..."??? If someone asks you, you have to do it... right? Only if you avoid the question can you get out of it with some slight hint of dignity... Mowbray Mtn wouldn't be such a bear if it weren't 1 - the steepest at the very beginning and 3/4 the way in... 2 - After a full 10 hour day at work... 3 - In an environment that is humid as hell... alas... It's a good climb... would probably be considered a Cat1 or 2... Not nearly as long as climbs like Caesar's Head, but definitely steeper... and rather depressing when I'm passed by Cat 1-3 riders who blast past me going double my speed... but... at least there are those who pass me at the beginning, whom I catch up to and pass at the end b/c I saved some energy... now that is a wonderful feeling!

Anyway... this note has been rather informational in nature and not a lot of prose to it... I'll work harder next time... towards the end of the work week my brain tends to just blurt out information rather than think in full sentences! Maybe this weekend after rest, hubby & puppy time, a few rides, and perhaps a trip to see the new Harry Potter... I'll be ready for the real world again...