Can’t quite fall asleep so I thought I’d banter on here about the start of the season.  Last season was a handful.  I felt alot of responsibility to help the ValueAct team expand for 2008 and, alot of pressure to perform, and hectic schedule - it was alot to recover from. 

In preparation for a very full NRC schedule this year, I have taken my time getting ramped up for this season.  Have only raced once so far (Santa Rosa) and I am just recently getting going with some hot intervals.  Next big team race is Sequoia.  Today I started my workout with enthusiasm to crush it on the bike.  It made me feel happy, weather was good, 2 cups of coffee, no leg warmers - I was living large.  By the end of my workout I had inflicted enough suffering on myself that my mood changed (or maybe my caffeine high was wearing thin?) and I was feeling a little negative. 

Some people like Hernando have such sickening and endless enthusiasm for suffering on the bike - I envy him. 

I am, however, not one of those people.  Love the ride, but easy like Sunday morning is more my style than a lunch time hammer fest.  Intervals are a love-hate relationship for me, I love the feeling of accomplishment I get but I don’t actually like to do them.  Still, they always get done. 

So finally I feel the need to pay my dues in the Central Valley (another love-hate relationship, more emphasis on the love than the hate) and race at CVC this weekend.  Cool course downtown in the Tower District of Fresno and it looks like the women’s field is super star with High Roads, Colavita, and then all the West Coast teams. 

I was also terribly entertained today that cyclingnews.com used “Nobody puts baby in the corner” as a subheading in their news report for women’s cycling in North America.  80’s movies are a constant source of inspiration.

And now I gotta go to bed.

As per cyclingnews.com:

ValueAct Capital Cycling for 2008

Building off a successful inaugural season, the ValueAct Capital Professional Women’s Cycling Team will add talent to its 2008 roster with new riders Nicole Evans, Leah Goldstein, Marni Hambleton, Lara Kroepsch and Chrissy Ruiter to join the current line-up. The team aims to be among the best in the US.

“Last year, we had a young, spirited team that really proved they had the ability to succeed. Katie Mactier’s wealth of experience really contributed to making this team gel,” said Director, Lisa Hunt. “I wanted to build on that momentum, by adding more top stage race and single day race talent. It’s a great group of riders!”

Three-time Mt. Hood Cycling Classic winner, Leah Goldstein will add firepower to the team’s GC abilities at major stage races. Goldstein, the current Israeli National Road Race and Time Trial Champion who resides in British Columbia, excels in tough, hilly races and has a wealth of experience racing in Europe as well.

American Lara Kroepsch, who rode for TEAm Lipton for the past two years, will bring her sprinting strength as well as solid stage race experience. Kroepsch is a two-time Collegiate National Criterium Champion, with numerous podium spots in major NRC races.

Katie Mactier, who has already garnered two gold medals in the individual pursuit at the Sydney and Beijing World Cup Track events in recent months, will be racing with the squad, beginning in May. “I’m super excited to be hooking up with the girls again for another US road season. This year we are a bigger team and hungry to make our mark,” said Mactier.

The team will be contesting a full NRC schedule for 2008, kicking off the season with the Santa Rosa Women’s Grand Prix on February 18. Prior to that, the team will hold their training camp in Healdsburg, California, the week of February 11th.

ValueAct Capital Cycling Team for 2008: Sharon Allpress, Hannah Banks, Courtenay Brown, Nicole Evans, Leah Goldstein, Marni Hambleton, Lara Kroepsch, Katie Mactier, Martina Patella, Chrissy Ruiter, and Taitt Sato.

Peace out.

Here is the reason!

This is Taitt’s leg. Wow, lots of muscle!

MP: I’ve heard that sort of injury only happens to highly attractive and intelligent women, like you. And John Hunt (I’m referring to the broken tibial plateau, not the highly attractive and intelligent women part).

T Hot S: The real problem is that tibia is the main weight bearing bone in your body. You can crack it like a grain of wood if you have a fracture, so I have to be really careful. It’s so hard to be good, because it actually doesn’t hurt too bad if I stand and walk carefully at this point.

MP: Is the fracture north to south or east to west?

MYB and T Hot S together in action

Today we won the Santa Rosa Criterium. What a cool race! Down town Santa Rosa, kind of technical course, nice prize list for women, and lots of people out cheering for us.

Of course, I really could not have won this race without Taitt’s help. She basically had the field in tears, with a strong wind and she was just attacking and driving breaks! By the time I finally attacked, luckily everybody was too tired after chasing Taitt to respond or they just didn’t want to stick their nose in the wind (which is understandable - it was really windy!) Plus I could afford to take risks because I knew if I was caught before the finish line, Taitt would be in the field ready to handle the sprint. It was a win-win situation. The minties did a great job being agressive and I hear that they had a full lead-out train going to the finish line. Laura Charameda, I think she is a previous Champion of the Universe or something similar, took the field sprint with Taitt crossing the line for 3rd.
Cat’s Hill was also a great team race with Taitt taking the ever-competitive Queen of the Mountain competition for the second year in a row! Courtenay Brown took 3rd place and I finished in 4th place! Not bad for a team with only three people in the race! Karen Brems won for about the 20th time. I think she started winning that race when she was still in elementary school or something! Anyway, she is one crafty bike racer and very difficult to beat on that course. Of course, big thanks to LGBRC for putting so much energy into making Cat’s Hill the race that it is, one of the gems of the NCNCA calendar.