Ronde Van Brisbane Circuit Race & Santa Cruz Criterium Women's 4

First I need to post a little shout out to the wonderful riding of our Michele Heaton who won 2nd place in the Women's 4 category at the Ronde Van Brisbane Circuit Race last Sunday. Michele and I had a very loose strategy where I would tow her on the down hill portion of the course and she would lead the way back on the uphill. Our plan worked brilliantly for the most part: I enjoy leading the pack on downhills since the extra 5 inches in height I have on most of the girls in the pack equals a very fast downhill time with minimal effort and Michele is a monster on the hills and towed me up with ease. The race seemed shorter than the 50 minutes we rode, and during the last lap a Los Gatos girl attacked midway up the hill. The pack reacted and Michele was outsprinted by only a small margin by a lady from the Left Coast Racing team. I ended up getting 5th and so Team Bike Trip was represented on two spots on the podium!

The Santa Cruz Criterium was another great race, and I found many Bike Trippers cheering me on throughout the race, not to mention my whole family was out to watch what their crazy girl likes to do in her spare time! The field was the smallest I've raced in all year, 18 girls total, and I was a little nervous that I wouldn't have anywhere to hide in the pack if I wanted to rest. I had a fantasy in my head that I would be able to break away during the 2nd to last lap and sprint triumphantly to the end, but sadly that wasn't the case. My internal dialogue made me doubt my ability to attack and make something stick so I ended up playing it safe (again! Gah!) throughout the whole race and didn't even go for any of the primes. On the last lap on Laurel Extension I was in a fantastic position within the top 5. Sadly, due to the nature of the course once we turned onto 3rd street the road widened, the pack spread out and I found myself side by side with the other 17 riders. I tried my hardest to spin up the hill, but my choice to stay in my big ring the whole race began to tax my legs and I found myself inching forward and only passing a handful of girls. A 9th place finish isn't really that bad, I'm just regretting that I didn't take any chances and didn't take advantage of all the wonderful training I've been doing with my dad on our lunch breaks during the past few weeks. Next time, competitors beware - Kimi will have her game face on!