Swimming Holes, Kittens, and ice cream Bars

We raced at Castaic on Sunday, round number 3 of the Cal State Series. It has become a necessary evil that most people approach with deep distain. Upon arriving, i asked semi-pro Romolo Forcino if he had come out to pre-ride. His reply was patent of anyone who had ever raced there before. "NO. I know how to ride up a hill." And that about sums it up.

Pro women started at 1:18 pm with us experts just two minutes behind. The morning marine layer had burned off, allowing the sun the begin the burning of our flesh. It was hot. The thing with this course is that all the climbing is on super exposed fire roads. The only shade is a quick bit of single track which was actually very entertaining due to the fact that it runs through a picnic area and parallel with the lake shore riddled with fisher-people. There were many unknowing and unwilling spectators as we careened through the park and ruffled the tranquility of their afternoon walk or lunch with their family.

Thats what brings me to the swimming hole. The lake looked really yucky, but i SO wanted to fall of the trail and into it. I have not been this hot since Santa Barbara last year. The air was thick and stagnant, with barely any break.

i also had to think about kittens and puppies to keep my mind calm and sane. The funny thing is that i felt about 180% better than i did at this event last October.

Then i really wanted ice cream, but the level of exertion on my system made me choose wisely, and avoid all such products until later in the day.

Once the race was over and i had sprinted another guy on a specialized for the finish (he was a semi-pro and i passed him in the feed zone, his mom yelled "Hey, you just got passed by a girl." He came up next to me knowing he had ANOTHER LAP to race and told me he would sprint through the start finish line. He won. Then raced another lap.) The only "technical section" was a small bit of descending double track with really sandy switchback. And there was some of those going up too. Anyways, on the DOWN ones lap too, i was mid-pack with the pro/semi-pro mens field (being lapped and all) which quickly turned into the "High heart rate" for the day. They were super nice, but totally on a different mission than I. Personally, i was attempting to stay about 5 switchbacks ahead of my nearest fo (who happened to be in another class anyways) and these guys were on a mission for pure domination and destruction of a guy about half a switchback behind. But it was cool to see their lines and try to take them and it was cool to see one of them clip out!

I could see a thick layer of salt on my skin and on my kit and my head began turning flips. Later, by the wiesness of Caoch Gareth, i learned that these are signs of dehydration. Go figure. Monday i felt like i had a severe flu and hated everything, except my pets.

I know i have said i wont really blog straight up race reports, but i have nothing else to say. I think this was a redemption race for this course for sure, i actually enjoyed the experience and was able to come out with a bit of a victory too.

Christie, on the other had, fell to the fate of a bee. The wee little monster took her race result into his own stinger and stung her, forcing her to pull out of the race after two laps. Good work out though and the epi-pen was not needed!