Bad Directions Lead to Near Century

At home I regularly sleep until 8:00. On the road, even when I set my alarm for 6:00, I'm awake at 5:30. Probably has something to do with going to bed so early.

It was good that I got up at 5:30, because that meant I was on the road by 7:30. THAT was good because I knew I had a long day of riding to get to Fort Stevens. 

I returned to the Banks-Vernonia Trail via the road entrance to the park. Today I had about 13 miles to complete the trail to Vernonia. As I was quite early, the only other trail users were the slugs and snails.

I think I managed to not run over any of them.

The trail continued the gentle grade up for a couple more miles. Then it was a nice downhill. Then it was a really steep downhill (11% grade)! There was even a sign saying to walk bicycles (yeah, not doing that!). 

At the bottom of the steep grade, the trail crossed a road. Guess what happened on the other side? Yep, another 11% grade, only this time I had to go up! It had some tight switchbacks, but it still got the heart thumping and the lungs working hard!

The remainder of the trail was fairly level. It ended at Anderson Park in Vernonia. From there, my "Bike There" app directions said to turn on Adams Ave. I didn't see a sign for that, so I just went to the end of the trail. The end of the trail was not Adams Ave. Still, I turned left like I was supposed to on Adams. I came out to the main drag through Vernonia (Bridge Rd/Hwy 47). My directions said to turn right onto Bridge, so I did. In a short distance I was supposed to turn left onto State St. I didn't see a State St, so I pulled out my phone to see where I was in relation to State. Yep, it was behind me (before the road I had come out of). I looked at the route while I was at it and compared it to just continuing on 47. It looked like 47 was a longer way to go, so I turned around and went back to State. 

Everything was going according to the directions. I rode along State, which became Keasey. I had ridden about 10 miles when the pavement ended, and the road turned to gravel. Since I had ridden two gravel sections yesterday, I thought it would be okay. I looked at the directions and figured, at the most, it would be about 6 miles of gravel. Since I kind of like riding on gravel, I continued on. 

After about two miles, the gravel road became narrower and more dirt than gravel. I thought to myself, "Hmmm...curious...this does not look good."  Sure enough, in about 500 yards the road ended. Well, it didn't really end, but in one direction there was a logging company gate--locked with tall grass growing behind it, and the other direction was an open gate, but the "road" ended in tall grass also. I pondered my options of which there was really only one--turn around and go back the 12 miles to Vernonia. After a few choice expletives, I turned Betsy around, and headed back. 

Along the way, a guy came along in a truck. I stopped, and he asked me if I was lost. I said I wasn't lost per se, but the directions I had had ended in a dead end. Funny thing was he said there were four other cyclists the week before trying to do the same thing! He also said it WAS possible to go that way, but that the likelihood of getting lost was pretty high. They are all logging roads without any signage. I asked if there was another way without going all the way back to Vernonia. He told me of another logging road, but he said that, too, was pretty difficult. He also told me there was a paved road near Vernonia that I could take, but it wouldn't save me much--just a couple of miles. I had seen Stony Point Rd on the way out. I opted to take that. 

So, I ended up on Hwy 47 afterall. Not only was it going to be longer, but I had just done nearly 24 miles for nothing! This day was getting longer!

Riding 47 was not bad. There were logging trucks, but most were going the other direction. Other than that, there wasn't much traffic and it was a pretty smooth road. Although it had been raining in the morning, the rain had stopped and the sun even came out...for awhile. 

I rode 47 for, I don't know how many miles, until I came to Hwy 202. 202 was the road I was supposed to come out on from my directions. The sign said 202 was the way to Astoria, so I figured that part of the directions was correct. The road sign said 47 miles to Astoria. I had already gone 46 miles. Yep, I was going to be on the road for a long time! However, I didn't think I would be going all the way to Astoria, because I was going to Fort Stevens which is Warrenton. I was hopeful that I didn't have 47 more miles to go.

The clouds were moving in again when I pulled into a county park to use the restroom. Before I could leave, it started raining--pouring actually. I stood under a tree and pulled all my raingear on. As usual, as soon as I got everything on, it slowed down. Since it was still actually raining, just not as hard, I kept the raingear on. 

About 2 miles down the road the sun came out and I was cooking in my rain pants, so I stopped and took them off. A short time later I took my jacket off too. 

At one point, I pulled off to eat something as it was about 12:30. I didn't feel like making a peanutbutter and Nutella sandwich, so I just ate some almonds and a Clif Bar (my second for the day). 

Back on the road, I noticed that I was gradually climbing. Then I noticed it was starting to rain again. I stopped and put my jacket and helmet cover back on, but not the pants. I was hoping for just a light rain...yeah, not so much. Soon, it was pouring again. Since I was pretty warm because I was going up (and up, and up), I didn't bother to put the rain pants back on. I was pretty well soaked from the waist down. 

The directions I had tried to follow had me coming out to 202 from "Wage" Rd. I didn't see this road for a long time. I was hoping, by then, that I wouldn't see it because, according to the directions, I would have 29.9 miles on 202 from Wage Rd. I, unfortunately, did see the road. I calculated I would be over 90 miles by the time I got to Fort Stevens. I've done 89 before, but that was flat and with a tailwind. I was a little worried. I just kept telling myself I had lots of daylight!

The climbing continued. It dawned on me that I would eventually get to go down to get to the Coast! Boy, was I hanging on to that thought!

Finally, I reached the top and did, indeed, have a nice long downhill. It was still raining and I was a little chilly coming down, but not cold enough to put my rain pants on. 

The road was still on a downhill trend, when I realized I really needed to stop and eat something. The banana I had eaten on the way up was long gone! I pulled off and grabbed my spoon and jars of peanutbutter and Nutella. I ate a couple of spoonfuls of both, then pulled out my bread and spread more on and ate that too. I felt about a 1000 times better, and was even confident that I could make it to Fort Stevens!

Unfortunately, it turned out that I did actually come into Astoria (on the East side of the Nehalem River-which I crossed about 5000 times today!). I was at 91 miles when I crossed the Youngs Bay Bridge (which was VERY DIFFICULT as there was a full-on headwind, and the shoulder is not very wide).

I finally pulled into Fort Stevens at 6:10. I had gone 99.5 miles. Why didn't I just do another half mile so I could say I did a century? Because I was exhausted! I did not want to ride any more than I had to to get to the Hiker/Biker site. 

Needless to say, the shower was awesome! There are no other cyclists here, but there is a mother and son who are...um...interesting. 

Tomorrow will be a MUCH shorter day. By the way, I blew my previous longest day of 89 miles out of the water! One more photo for the road--literally. If I had this I could have done the logging road route!

A Great Way to Start a Tour!

Today's total mileage? 1.3 miles. That's how far it is from my house to the train station.

Day 1 of my Long Way to the Cabin Tour (form here on out...LWCT, for short) started with a train ride to Vancouver. The nice train man (not Mark, my usual nice train man) took my heavy duffle bag and tossed onto the train like it weighed nothing. He wouldn't even let me put it into the luggage rack. That was a good thing because I'm not sure I could have lifted it up!

After an uneventful hour and a half-ish, I arrived in Vancouver. Once again the nice train guy hefted the duffle off the train for me. I went back to the baggage car to retrieve Betsy. My dad was there with the van and I loaded everything up. 

The BBQ at my brothers' house wasn't until 3:00, so I had time to make a run to Safeway to get the food I needed for my LWCT. I got everything loaded and we went to Scott and Tim's at the appointed time.

    Brothers, Tim and Scott, and me

Slowly my cousins started arriving as well as Scott's fiancée, and finally her sister and two of her kids. Cousins, Jeannie, Abby, and Claire came from Hood River. I'll see Claire again when I get to Hood River on the LWCT. Erin, John, and James came from Vancouver (I haven't seen James since he last stayed with me at 2 1/2 years old. He is 19 now.). Vince and Sharon, and Lisa and Tag (I think they are all in the Portland area) came too. I don't think I've seen Lisa in 18 years--Vince, too. 

    Cousins, Jeannie, Vince, Erin, and Lisa

    James, Abby, and Claire

    Paparazzi!

Lori, Scott's fiancée, is a sweetheart, and I look forward to her joining the family!

We had lots of great food and even more great laughs. What a wonderful way to start a tour!

Here are a couple of parting shots of the dogs:

     Bubba and Grace--my bed partners for the night

I Really Need to Work on my Hill Climbing

Today was my 10th race. It was on the Key Peninsula at Longbranch. Maria, Debbie, and I had gone out to the course a week ago to pre-ride. It was a good thing, because I would have definitely been in for a rude awakening. I'm not saying pre-riding made the actual race any easier, but at least I knew what to expect. 

We always have these grand designs of what we are going to do. Sadly, it seldom pans out. As for my own performance, I did, pretty much, how I thought I would do. I am fully aware that I suck on the hills (literally, as in I am sucking as much oxygen into my lungs as possible and still not getting enough--which brings on the wheezing like a donkey).

In addition to the multitudes of hills, this race had another feature--one I have not experienced in any of the other road races. There was no neutral roll-out--no time to settle in to the race (mentally and physically) before we started racing. And, it was an uphill start. It was a go at the whistle. TWEEET!!! We're racing...uphill. I'm going slower and slower. Almost everyone has passed me. Even though I did my usual warmup, my lungs had not had a chance to get in the game...enough. Sucking wind big time ...thinking, if I could just...*wheeze*...go...a...little...*wheeze*...faster! I got to the smooth pavement section (ahhhh) and thought I could go faster to catch up. Yeah, they went faster too. Coming up on the first turn, I knew they would slow down to take the corner as a group. Here was my chance to gain a little ground. Since I didn't have anyone around me, I could take the corner faster. Oh, I took it faster alright--so fast that I almost ran out of pavement on the far side! Maybe that wasn't a great idea.

Fortunately the next section was a fast downhill. I hammered to catch up and managed to get back and even get around some of the "Mosquito" girls. Whew, back in business...until the big bad hill where I was promptly spit out the back again. At least I passed one gal who had come to a complete stop (the easiest kind to pass) in the middle of the hill. Don't know what that was about. It didn't seem like she had a flat. 

This hill takes nearly four minutes to get up (we timed it on the pre-ride). That was the end of my time with the main group. The follow car also passed me (no surprise there). I still had hopes of catching back on on the downhill section. Nope, that did NOT happen. However, I could see ahead that there were 3 gals who had also been dropped. New goal--catch up to the dropped group!

I would gain on them on the downhills, coming ever so close, but not quite close enough before another hill would slow me more than them. After this one steep hill, I could now see the group ahead was 4. I thought I could see two OOA kits (Maria and Heather--I knew Debbie was behind me). I kept trying to catch up. I was getting a little closer, but still not close enough to be with them.

We finished lap one. Now back up the long long hill. This time I knew I could catch the group of 4 on the downhill. I caught up to them and could see they were working together rotating off the front. I sat in for awhile to catch my breath, then joined in the rotation. I would get ahead on the downhills only to continue to fall behind on the uphills (unfortunately, as awesome as I am descending, I am suckier at climbing--in other words, my downhill to uphill ratio is not good). At least I stayed with the group.

I have to say, the second lap was not as much of a wheeze-fest as the first lap. I guess my lungs finally came to the party. On the third lap, my lungs were doing okay, but my legs were starting to tire. I did a little more coasting downhill. Even coasting I could still get ahead of the light girls. About half to two-thirds through the third and final lap, Maria and I tried a bit of a two-person breakaway. I would hammer on the downhill with her right behind me, then she would pass me on the slight inclines and I would draft behind her. This section is almost all rollers, so that plan worked pretty good. We did get ahead. Too bad there was that big hill after the bridge. They caught us on the hill. I was, once again, spit to the back. I worked to catch up to Maria, but that wasn't happening. A car pulled out between me and another rider. The car was going pretty slow. As we came to a tight corner, I thought, "Oh great--I'm stuck behind a car!" The car finally sped up and passed the rider in front of me. Then, I passed her and, once again, caught up to...the car. I yelled for them to go faster, but they didn't. Finally, just after the 1 km sign, I was able to pass on the right AND avoid the guy who had been dropped from his race! I came across the line a short ways after Maria. I don't know where Heather was (I think behind me). I may have got 11th or something around that. The average, with all the hills was 18.7. I really need to work on my hill climbing!

But, for now, the race bike is hung on the hooks in the garage, and I will leave tomorrow for my "Long Way to the Cabin" Tour. Stay tuned as I will be posting from the road!

Paradise...At Last!

Over and over my attempts to ride to Paradise at Mt. Rainier have been thwarted (okay, maybe not over and over, but twice). But, no more! Today I had the opportunity to ride with the GGGs and CBC from Ashford to Paradise. The weather could not have been better--blue skies, mid-70s...perfect!

Taryn generously allowed me to, once again, ride in her Van...of...Awesomeness (cue the echo).

This time our trusty partner was Brian. He rode in the back as he felt the chicks should stick together (so true!). Our usual Van-of-Awesomeness Atmosphere O'Hilarity ensued as we made our way to our starting point at Whittaker's Bunkhouse (named after the famous Mt. Rainierian, Lou Whittaker--his picture is in the cafe, anyway).

There were about 13 of us who started, 8 of which were women. It was 5 miles to the Entrance Station of Mt. Rainier National Park. A few people in the group had Discover Passes. Each pass allows up to 5 people entrance to the park. I went in on Maggie's pass (thanks Maggie!). Once through the Entrance Station, I caught up to Anne, as she was riding alone, and we seemed a good fitness level match.  

The going was pretty easy for quite awhile. I didn't even need to drop off my big ring in the front. That was encouraging, because I had wondered if Tessa would be a good bike to bring (Star is the bike with the triple). However, with Tessa's 30 tooth cog in the rear, combined with the compact double, and the lighter weight, we had no problems with the climb. Oh, I did eventually get into that easiest gear, but only in the last few miles.

Due to the fabulous weather, we had beautiful views of the mountain and the surrounding wilderness. At one of the viewpoints, where a lot of cars were pulled over, I remarked to Anne how biking up really gives one the full experience that just can't really be obtained from a car. On a bike you really have time to soak up the views, and there are spectacular views around nearly every corner! 

It took Anne and I 2:23 to make it to Paradise. Our average speed was a respectable 10.4 mph. We stopped for photo ops along the way. Here is a photo of Tessa (white mountain, white guardrail, white bike)

Anne and I were the second pair to arrive at the top. The two fast guys (Mark and...Scott? Not sure if that's who the second fast guy was) got there first and had been there for a bit because they were well into a couple of good-sized slices of pizza by the time Anne and I arrived. Bit by bit the others arrived with the exception of Steven and Lori. After we had been at the top for about a half hour, we went ahead and took a group photo minus the two who hadn't made it yet.

We refilled our bottles, donned warm layers for the descent, and headed down. I, quite possibly, overdid the warm layers (arm warmers, leg warmers, jacket, and long finger gloves). I was comfortable, but I would have been just fine with less too.

I flew through the curves, treating it like a Crit--in the drops, little braking, and rolling over the rough sections of the road. It was a blast! I was in a good no-traffic pocket (nothing passed me for a really long time, and no tour busses ever passed me). After awhile, when the descent was no longer as steep, I had to pull over to take off the extra layers. A couple of others did the same, however, I had a few more items to take off than they did (cue the stripper music). Feeling much better, back to shorts and jersey, I caught back up to Anne. We rode together for awhile. I took the lead to give her a break from the wind. After coming out from the Entrance Station, I lost Anne. I then caught up to Maggie and Bob. The three of us rode the last few miles together.

I rode 49 miles with a final ride time of 3:25 and an overall average of 14.3mph. My max speed was 38.4. Because Taryn was the ride leader, and an all-around nice person (Brian too), they came in much later. They had gone BACK UP to the summit with the two riders who had fallen behind, then rode most of the way back down with them! Impressive ride leadership!!!

In the meantime, I had found where Taryn left the keys to the Van-of-Awesomness (thanks to Carol and Maggie reminding me) and was able to change clothes and put my bike in. I had some ice cream from the cafe, and waited in a chair in the shade under the trees.

 I could have stayed there all day, but not long after, Taryn and Brian came cruising in.

Taryn was carrying a bag of someone's stuff in her jersey pocket (see what I mean about impressive ride leader?). The other two came in a short time later.

We got everything loaded, and after making sure everyone was taken care of, we headed for home.

So, I finally rode to Paradise. I have to say, I'm rather glad to have NOT done it, loaded, on Betsy or Stella. Riding Tessa was very fun and just the right amount of challenge.

Here are a few more of the great photos from today.

 Taryn and I at the Entrance Station.

Christine Falls

Anne and I, and, her majesty, Mt. Rainier!

The mountain reflected in the windows of the Visitor Center.

Next Tour is Planned!

I think the title of this next tour will be either, "Long and Winding Road to the Cabin Tour" or, "Here a Pass, There a Pass, Everywhere a Pass Tour".

I've had this idea to ride to my girlfriend's cabin near Leavenworth for a couple of years. Since I sold my van, it's time to make that ride. I also want to ride to Eugene and spend some time with my boys and future daughter-in-law, as well as ride the famed McKenzie Pass Scenic Bikeway. Naturally, I decided to combine the two!

Turns out, my brother is having a BBQ at his place in Portland on June 23rd. Perfect! I will take the train to Vancouver or Portland, go to the BBQ, and start my tour the next morning from Portland. I've heard good things about the Banks-Vernonia Trail, so I will make my way to the Coast while checking out this trail. 

Once I get to the Coast, I will make my way south to Florence. I've done this route twice before. This time I'm going to stay in some different parks (even though I really like the ones I stayed at). At Florence I'll turn east toward Eugene.

I'll spend the 4th of July holiday and weekend with Kyle and Mallory, and Connor too. Kyle and I may even do some day rides! From Eugene I'll head toward The McKenzie Pass Scenic Bikeway. That will be the first Pass. Before reaching Sisters, OR, I'll pick up the Sierra Cascades route.

Pass #2 will be Santiam on the Sierra Cascades Route. I'll make my way to Hood River crossing Blue Box and Bennett Passes (that's 3 and 4). 

On my previous Sierra Cascades tour, I had to detour to Vancouver due to Elk Pass still being closed. This time I will go over Elk Pass (#5) to Randle, then over White Pass (#6). I'll make my way through the Yakima Canyon to Ellensburg, and over Blewett Pass (#7) to Leavenworth. A mere 13 more miles over the Chumstick Hwy and I'll be at the cabin!

After a week of relaxing with Lorraine and Annette, I'll ride my way up and over Stevens Pass (#8). I'll get to do my favorite Old Cascade Hwy (from Courage Classic). I'll stay at Money Creek Campground (I've always been attracted to that name!) in Skykomish. 

I'll continue down Hwy 2 to Monroe and ride to Carnation. The last day will be riding from Carnation to Seattle. I could finish the way I started by taking the train from Seattle to Olympia, but since it will be a Saturday, Tim will come pick me up in Seattle. I'll probably meet him at the train station.

So, there you have it. Some old, some new. Hey, that would be a good name too! 

That's Bike Racing...

Or...Never Give Up!

Today was the final stage of the Capital Stage Race--the road race. Overnight, we lost 4 of our Cat 4 Women riders. One was my teammate Maria, but we knew about that one. Don't know what happened to the other three. We were down to 14.

The road race started in Rochester at Grand Mound Elementary. For us Cat 4 Women, it was a 47 mile  course that took us up two major hills, each twice.

The roll-out for this race is pretty long, about 3 miles I think. We were all quite chatty throughout the roll-out. Once we got the beep from the follow car, we were racing. However, the pace was still quite slow and chatty. This is a trait of the Cat 4 Women. We don't let a little thing like a bike race stop us from talking!

We negotiated the flat, with a few rollers that is Independance Valley Rd, without a lot of effort. Everyone seemed content to just roll along. No real surges or attacks. Of course, this probably had to do with the upcoming hill known as Manners Rd. once we reached the base of Manners, the strong gals took off. That left me, Debbie, a couple of Starbucks gals, and, eventually, Jean, dropped off the back. The follow car even went around us (first time that has happened to me in a race).

I kept working my way up the hill (it's rather long). I, unfortunately, left Debbie behind. I wanted to catch up to Jean, which I did just after the turn at the bottom of the hill. We worked together to catch up to the follow car. We did it, and got back in the race! We just sat in the rest of the way to Michigan Hill. I knew we would be dropped again--Michigan is even steeper than Manners. Jean is much better at hill climbing than I am, so I was, once again, chasing after her. I caught up at the bottom and we worked again to catch the group. We could see them, but never quite reach them. We were gaining, but then we were back to Manners, and climbing again. This time Jean stayed with me and paced me up the hill. She would remind me of what I should be doing--spin it out, shift into a bigger gear now, etc. We made it up and over, but the rest of the group was now out of sight. We went back to working together on the flats of Lincoln Creek--taking turns pulling. We work well together because I can pull for a long time and recover quickly. Jean maintains a great pace, but tires more quickly. She is able to stay on the front long enough for me to recover.

We continued, but we could still not see the follow car. Then, at the expense of a Men's 4/5 rider's extreme misfortune, we got lucky. The poor 4/5 rider had taken a severe spill on the course ahead of us. The emergency response vehicles were blocking the road. The Women's race had come to a standstill. We joined the group waiting. Debbie and one of the Starbucks gals also rejoined us. We were stopped long enough to be able to eat and do some stretching.

     This photo was taken by Chris Neumiller who was our follow car driver.

The ambulance took the guy, and the rest of the road was cleared. The race official let the accumulated traffic go, then we were back to racing. We just had one more trip up Michigan Hill. Again, Debbie, Jean, the Starbucks gal, and I got dropped behind the follow car. This time there was also one of the Portland gals. Jean was doing a great job up the hill with Susan, the Portland gal. I was happy to just get up as fast as I could without killing myself! I thought I would catch them on the bottom. Not quite! I could see them, so I just kept working to close the gap.

Finally, with just a few kilometers to go, I caught up to Jean and Susan. We sprinted together across the finish line. Susan was the gal I had finished the Crit with yesterday. Even though we spent about half the race trying to catch up, we managed to finish not that far behind the group. That was due to perseverance and a bit of luck. As Jean and Maria like to say, That's Bike Racing!!! And, best of all, I maintained my 10th place finish overall!

Hard Work, But Not Scary

Stages 1 and 2 of the Capital Stage Race are complete, and I have lived to tell the tale (or post the blog)! 

Stage 1 was a short Time Trial along Deschutes Parkway. It was just 4 miles. My biggest goal was to NOT miss my start time (ala the Icebreaker TT)! Soooo, Debbie and I were in line 20 minutes early (our start times were 9:24:30 for me and 9:25:00 for Debbie). I finally got to experience the bike-holder start where the guy holds you upright so you can be clipped in and ready to shoot off the start when they give you the go ahead. Let's just say that is much nicer than careening up to the line 20 seconds late, and just having to take off like a mad woman!

Since this was such a short Time Trial, the plan was to go all out. However, fellow teammate, Adam, said to make sure and save a bit for the last part as it seems to go on forever. Well, I've determined that I don't really know how to do that. I just go full-bore. When I get tired, I go slower, but I'm still putting out a full-effort. But, Adam was right in that the last bit did seem to go on and on. In the end, I managed a 6th place finish with a time of 9:02. There were 18 Cat 4 Women. Just to give you an idea how close the times were, my teammate, Maria, came in just 7 seconds after me and got 12th place.

After the TT, we had a long time to wait. The Cat 4 Women's Crit was not scheduled until 4:05. We killed some time by watching some of the other TT finishes. Then we walked up to the Crit Course at the Capital to lend a hand in setting up. Debbie and I were posted on corners to keep cars from turning onto the streets as they were blocking them off. All the cars were pretty compliant except this one guy. He turns onto the road I'm blocking. I told him he couldn't go that way. He informed me that he worked in the building behind me (the General Administration Building) and that he needed to plan a funeral for a police officer. I told him he couldn't get through anyway as it was already blocked off at the other end of the street. He told me he would figure something out, and proceeded to drive down the blocked street. Not long after, one of the State Patrol Officers came driving by. He saw the guy's car parked at the end of the street. He drove down to the car. I walked down and told the officer the guy was in the GA Building, and that I had told him he couldn't go there. The officer said that was interesting. He waited for the dude to come out, then told him to move his car. I glared at him as he drove by.

Once we finished our corner duties, we went to Subway and had lunch. We spent the rest of the time, before getting ready for our Crit, watching the Cat 4/5 guys and the Masters. They also had a Junior race. Those boys (and, I think, 2 girls) are so tiny, but they can go pretty fast! They appeared to be 9-11 year olds, maybe a bit younger. If the small women (like Jean) are Mosquitos, these little ones are GNATS!

At 3:00, Debbie and I headed back to the car to change back into our kits and do some warm-up. I didn't feel like dragging out my trainer in the sun, so Debbie and I just rode the TT course for a warm-up. We got back to the Crit course with plenty of time to spare. Nolan and Tim had arrived to watch my race. Nolan came over while we were waiting in line to use the potty shacks (on my potty shack rating scale, these actually achieved a top score of 10--in the shade, fully stocked--including hand sanitizer, handle on the inside of the door, and not stinky!).

The waiting is the hardest part, but, finally, it was our turn. We got to take a warm-up lap. Some of us remarked how nice it would be if the whole race was like the warm-up lap. Ahhhh....that was not to be...

We lined up at the start and got our instructions about prime laps, how long you had to race to continue on to the the road race tomorrow--10 minutes, and a few other directions. They blew the whistle, and we were off! 

In the very first corner, a gal squealed on her breaks. I made it around, and vowed to stay away from her! On the third or fourth lap, I got to the front. I managed to stay in the lead for a little over one lap, then a bunch passed me. That was the last of my being anywhere near the front. Those gals poured on the gas and it was all I could do to hang on. On the uphill from the last corner, past the start/finish, and to Corner 1, I would fall behind. But, after Corner 1, I would catch back up to the group. I was able to do that for a few laps, but then it became harder and harder to catch back on. At some point, about halfway or so, I could not catch the main group. I was not alone though. There was one other gal. We kept trading places on the laps. Both Debbie and Jean got pulled from the race (or, were allowed to stop). I could hear them yelling as I would go by the start/finish. I had passed Maria, and I thought she had been pulled too, but she wasn't. 

We kept going around and around. The course was .7 miles, and we had to ride for approximately 30 minutes. I lost track of how many laps we did, but I'm guessing in was in the neighborhood of 13-15. Every time I would come around the last corner, I would hope to hear the bell for the last lap. Nope, we would still be going and I could see the peleton up ahead (it is the longest straight stretch of the course--all uphill). I was still going pretty fast, just not as fast as the others. Early on, coming out of one of the corners, I looked at my speedometer and saw I was going 27mph!

Finally, the announcer guy said we had two laps to go. Thank God! My mouth was bone dry and my hands were killing me from hanging on so tight in the drops (the back side of the course was pretty bumpy--I did finally find the least bumpy line through that section). 

As we came around on the last lap, I was able to get ahead of the gal I had been with and, at least, beat her at the line. As we crossed the finish, we heard the announcer say, "And we have one more racer coming in". Susan, the gal I was with, and I looked at each other and both said how we thought we were the last ones! It was Maria, of course (remember how I said she wasn't pulled?). 

Susan and I took one last lap to cool down and catch our breath. Susan thought she was going to throw up. I told her we must try not to do that!

I ended up with 10th place and a time of 30:24. With my Time Trial, I am at 10th overall and 1:25 off the leader time. Tomorrow's road race time will be added. We'll see if I can maintain my 10th place.

This was my first Criterium. It was very hard, but not scary like I thought it would be. The corners were pretty easy, and I felt confident taking them at speed. I'm not sure that I would say the Crit was fun, but it was not terrible. I'll probably do it again sometime.

Here is a photo Tim took when I was in the lead.