Fast Fun Fontana

Fontana

I’ve stayed at a host house all week in Redlands at Pam Wesh’s house. I just love Redlands I always feel at home when visiting. It was an early start to my day on Monday. As always  it’s a day I review data ,make phone calls to cycling clients. 

Then at the end of my work day I went out for a nice spin.  I scheduled to see a massage therapists on Tuesday to help with the inflammation I was dealing with. 

Tuesday morning after some work I went out to Fontana Southridge park to ride the cross country course. Luckily for me I had ran into a local pro, Derrick Hermon whom was kind enough to show me the course. The course was like I had remembered it from my first experience at Fontana. It had the chunk of broken up asphalt that would ride like a sand pit if you didn't keep your momentum riding over. The first portion of the course would be uphill with a variety of Sandy dirt , very loose and at the same time very deceiving as it could be deep sand all along the the side of mountain ridges. 

The course was just technical enough, it was definitely a course where you had to pay attention and keep your balance centered on the bike. Positioning your body Too far back would cause the front end to lose control and too far forward might have you going over the front end of the bars. Finding that sweet spot for every situation was important. 

I went back to have a massage with Randy again- which was just what I needed . I took an easier spin around Redlands after my massage. I decided I would do ride the Sunset Loop. Well, for this Texan nothing about Sunset loop is easy. But I just love the roads around here. While I was out on the the famous Sunset loop from the Redlands Classic I run into Ken Krammer the race director . He was out with the city crew patching asphalt on the roads himself. I stopped to have a chat and then was quickly bummed that I would not be racing the April 2nd-6th Redlands Classic. Shortly after my return from my ride I jumped into the car to pick up my client Jessica Rawlins from LAX airport. 

Friday we drove out to Fontana for a pre ride of the course. The course was finally all marked. The course was a bit shortened from what I had been riding.  Half of the course I was riding Tue& Wednesday was not in the pro loop. This made for a very fast lap, the first half would be uphill then followed by two descents . The start was on this thick broken up asphalt , it was like a big sand pit if you lost any speed through it, it was followed by a quick left turn with deep sand on the inside or outside line had a nice loose dirt. A few more tight loose turns then onto the gravel. The entire first section was a good 10-minutes of climbing. Finally you were rewarded with a fun descent. I had a blast riding the descent. It would shoot you out at the bottom that you were completely spun out until you hit the uphill loose rocky sandy kicker followed by some whoop de do’s to the start finish. It was a short lap but it was hard. 

I was feeling good about my riding, my fitness, and my skills were on. Saturday would be the cross country race. I am not sure what the call ups were based on , I was ranked 16th and I was on the last row. 

The gun went off I chose to ride the outside line for the most traction.  I knew the sand would bunch people up and sure enough there would be a crash. I was able to avoid the carnage and I proceeded to play catch up. I quickly settled into a rhythm and as we hit the asphalt it was a long slow uphill. I didn’t want to blow myself up - so I conserved. I went into the single track feeling anaerobic but was able to keep pushing the limits. I did my best and rode clean I made everything with no issues. My reward would be the descent. I was having so much fun riding over the rocks taking the outside lines and whipping the bike around. There were photographers all throughout the descents.  But sure enough it was over before I knew it. At the bottom of the hill I would be able to sit in and stay in the draft . Just before we hit the single track with the little kicker I would come around and continue to the start finish . We had five laps, and I would continue with my steady state riding on the gravel to the asphalt climb. I would get passed by riders here on the climb, but I didn’t want to blow up - racing without power was hard to determine how hard I was exactly going. I tried to focus on the pain and keeping it steady.  There were people all over this course so to hear the encouraging words of others really helped me going. 

My goal was not to go out too hard and to stay calm that allowed me to have a clean ride- no crashes!  I had a lot of fun racing and focused on my riding- not trying to be in front of the others. Sometimes we lose site of this ? We had a stacked field and Scott Tedro has really helped with getting that tougher competition out here racing. 

Sunday- Short Track

 Short track is kind of like cross racing when it comes to positioning . You want a good start- it’s pretty much everything. Its all out from the moment the gun goes off until the end. The race would only be 15-minutes plus two laps. Again today’s competition would consists= of former Olympians, multiple country national champions it would be a stacked field none the less. 

The short track course was the start and finish of the cross country course. The Starting stretch was very hard to pedal through- it was the type that you needed a lot of momentum to carry you through the thick ; loose chopped up asphalt. Today’s course would not give me any advantage of starting at the back. However, none the less I had to start at the back. I was prepared. The gun went off- and as I clipped in my bike stood dormant.  It literally froze as if someone had a hold of my back wheel. What? I had to quickly unclip and put a foot down before my bike fell over to the side. I tried to push off with my foot to get the bike to roll. Finally I had enough traction I clipped in and took off. At this point I was already way off the back I mean DFL . I began to get out of the saddle and sprint to the corners  with my out side foot planted down hard on the pedal so I would maintain traction through the turns. Though the terrain made it very hard to get the traction needed to regain to the leaders. I fought and continued  trying to go around riders on the loose turn as they bottle necked to take the most beaten in path. I was riding the non favored lines in order to get around riders. I was burning matches right and left. I had no time to wipe the snot and saliva from my face. 

It wasn’t the best result however, I worked super hard the entire race. It would be nice to see more of these short track races- especially when they could so easily be streamed . And maybe even base call ups on your placing in short track.

Thanks for Reading! and Stay Tuned for me! 

US Pro Cup Bonelli

Redlands California 

Post Interview at Bonelli 

Orange Groves in Redlands 

The after shot! 

Jack Host House Dog :) 

men's short track race 

I traveled out to California to hit the next two races on the US Pro Cup Series. Thanks to All of the Wonderful Support of friends, Fans and Sponsors, Orbea-USA  , Colonels Bicylces who made this trip possible for me to attend. 
  The Racing Post. US one of my biggest fans whom offered a year's free subscription for those that donate 100.00 ! Wow! Not only do you get to help a Pro but you get a great Racing Magazine delivered to your home for free!  I started a Rallyme fund. It's a crowd funding website where people can donate to athletes to help them reach their goals.

Bonelli State Park located in San Dimas,CA. My trip began early matter of a fact I had a 4:00 a.m taxi Ride to the airport which allowed me to be an hour early for my flight. I arrived at LAX at 7:35 a.m. unfortunately My bike did not arrive with me. I was informed it would be on a later flight coming in at 3:30 in the afternoon. This had me hanging out in LA for a while. I did not want to leave with out my bike. As soon as my bike arrived at the airport I headed over to Bonelli  to pre ride the course. I was able to make it just in time to quickly build my bike and get a quick lap in . Thankfully the UCI course is quite short. There was a hand made rock garden added to the loop this year that I needed to see before tomorrows race. I found the great line and had a clean pre ride.

In and Out Burger Truck At the Race!

Saturday the cross country race. There would be the best in the World racing this weekend , a lot of Europeans made the trip. The race started off fast, we proceeded to do a short start loop. There was a crash at the top of the little climb  on the loose gravel turn  before starting the descent.  I managed to weave myself through it all and got out of the saddle to close the gap. We headed through the start finish then onto the loose climb.  Ah.. It was hard, in order to maintain traction you had to remain in the saddle and dig your way up the climb. I have a one by on my Orbea Alma, and at this point I was wishing for that 28 tooth. (one by is one chain ring as opposed to a big and a small)
 I kept in contact with the leaders over the top and on the back side through the technical descent. I started to become quite gassed at this point. I was feeling my legs and I tried to keep going. The climbs became steeper and longer .
Then finally the descent  whipping throughout the single track . You could carry your momentum around and up to the A-line or the B-line option. The B-line easier but a little longer. The A-line was a shorter route however, a hairy section. You had off camber logs on one side of this ramp separated by a two by four and small boulders on the right followed by rocks and off centered logs then a switch back descent over logs.  As I made my approach to the A-line , I increased my cadence and lifted my front end up over onto the two by four and I almost rode it all out and the bike dropped down onto the rocks, I made it through. As I approached the switchback log section I hear, "rider down"shoot.  I was already in motion when two other girls had crashed in front of me then I go down. My bike got caught into the tape on the inside. I was fine, untangled my bike and proceeded. I was doing okay. I think I had fallen into 8th or 9th place by this time.
 I proceeded on to the next lap. This is where it got pretty ugly for me. As I hit the A-line section again. I make the first section just fine, the spectators are all cheering, for a brief moment in time I felt like a rock star. Then the switch back log descent, my handle bar hit the post that was holding the tape on the far right side causing my front wheel to abruptly turn sideways  as I was descending causing me to flip over my handlebars smacked down into the dirt.
Many people rushed over to make sure I was okay. I quickly jumped up and thought ahh.. my hands. I landed on my left shoulder with both of my hands underneath me. I must have bent my fingers and hand back .
I got back onto the bike and continued very slowly. I started to wonder if I had broken my collar bone. It hurt so much to pull up on the bars . I began to lose a lot of power as my speed began to crawl. I continued and came around on the next lap with having the option again of the A-line or the B-line.  I chose that A-line again. Pure determination I was going to ride this damn thing and do it clean. Sure enough I did just that. I won't lie I was in pain. As the next time around to the start finish area I was pulled.  I went straight over to the medic tent. The emt's and race site medic was pretty adamant about me going to the hospital.  My first thought was .. I have another race tomorrow, and the fact that I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on x-rays. I wasn't going to the hospital to only be told that it wasn't a good idea to race my bike. But I kept that to myself.
 After awhile of siting and icing my wounds . I was walked back to my car and the crew took my bike and put into my car for me.
I sat in the car continuing to ice and had some lunch contemplating on whether I should get back on the bike- I knew I needed to spin my legs out.   So sure enough I painfully pulled my bike back out of the car and slowly but surely got back onto the "horse". I spun around for about 30-minutes or so. This was a good feeling for me, I couldn't pick up the front end of the bike but I was spinning .
The next day I decided I would come out to the race early to ride prior to the race just to be certain I could hold the handle bars and assess how I felt .
I didn't have much range of motion in my wrist and I couldn't put any weight down at all. But, I didn't need to do any of that for the short track.
I proceed to line up for the race.
The race would only be 20 minutes long- I could do anything for 20 minutes I thought. Sure enough the race started out fast and furious. The girls were so savvy , I thought I am the crit racer here. I tried to pass on the inside and sure enough they would close me down. Finally the big group had split into many groups and most would get pulled in this short and fast race. The final lap came to, and I knew I had to make my move prior to the small hill . Everyone had the same idea the it was a sprint up that thing. Unfortunately there would be no passing after that. I went up with everyone on the top and not wanting to risk going down I couldn't get around. I ended up in 8th place. A bit disappointed with my result, though I was happy to have raced another day.

Stay Tuned .. for Fontana It's up next.

Meanwhile between races I am on the lovely town of Redlands. Where the famous Redlands Classic kicks off the National Road Racing Circuit.