US Cup Triple Crown Bonelli Park

or… This isn't the same Bonelli.

My first XC race was at Bonelli Park in October 2007.  I signed up for Sport Women Open.  I knew nothing about training, nutrition, or racing.  I was racing my sweet Dos Niner set up as a 1x9 (special Boone 29T ring, since I couldn't handle a 32T up front).  There was one other woman at the line, and she took off before I had even shifted down on my cassette.  The other passed me about 1/4mi in to the race.  





Yup, that was me in October 2007.

I'll be honest, I don't remember much about the race.  I think I went back and forth with another female about my age that kept passing me on the climbs, and I'd get her on the descents.  I think she crashed 2-3 times and called it a day.  There was a massive cacti patch on the hill that we all climbed this past weekend (the switchbacks) and a bunch of people crashed there.

I did the same race in 2008 I believe in Expert… only female out there.



I think Tinker lapped me on lap 2 of 4!

Since there isn't usually a lot of competition in the local Cat 1 ranks, I requested an upgrade to Pro Women XC in late 2008.  USAC denied the request, asking for more solid results at bigger events, so I set out to put in some solid and smart training, and realized that Chipotle wasn't "health" food.  

My next time racing at Bonelli was a little different. I actually had been training and watching my nutrition a little more closely for about 4 months by the time I got to the race. I was stoked that the Cat 1 women got to start with the Pro's.  It was the first race of the season, and I was on my new 2009 S-Works Epic.  I was super nervous, but shot out of the gate and found myself riding on the wheel of Melanie McQuaid and going back and forth with Krista Park!  It was awesome getting to watch Krista race, and follow her around the course for my 2 laps.

After "bugging" them some more, USAC let me upgrade before the Pro XCT event at Fontana last year, and I was stoked!

Needless to say, I've done a good amount of racing at Bonelli, and have really kind of come full circle from the sport racer that was constantly getting dropped!

Justin and I got to pre-ride most of the Triple Crown Pro course the weekend before the event.  We were tired from racing SRC, and the weather wasn't great, so we didn't spend much time out there.  We got out of work early Wednesday before the race and set out on a few laps to test the bike setups and the tires, and I was stoked to have the course a little more dialed in.

I felt ok but not great Friday on our ride at lunch, and then spent about 4 hours in the kitchen cooking and prepping for the weekend while Justin finalized the bike stuff in the garage.

Got bottles?



Justin made a few "tactical" errors Friday night.  He came in to shower and said that one of my crank bolts had shattered, but it would be okay and we'd get it replaced before Fontana.  No worries.  I forgot about it.

I was up way before the alarm Saturday morning and felt ready to go!  We got up to the venue before noon and I got in the longer than expected registration line.  Had hopped to get in a lap or so before the juniors went off.

Justin had the Team Rock N' Road Cyclery pit all dialed in when I got back from registration.



We got kitted up and I went to clip in to my pedal and my foot fell to the ground.  I thought (new shoes n all) I had missed the pedal, so tried again.  Realized my cranks were parallel (this is no bueno).  Justin looked at them and realized it was not going to work.  I sort of started to panic.  He ran around asking for crank bolts.  

He set me up on his hard tail, and was lucky enough to get hooked up with a way to put my crank rings on his drivetrain, since his crank arms were NOT fitting in my frame.  So, I went out to get used to a bike I'd ridden once and that was a size too big.

It wasn't my bike, but I'd make it work.  I thought about Beth's blog on making lemonade from the week before, and I was just going to make some for myself!  

I got back to the pits and Justin told me that Juan (who is a Specialized demo rep that happened to be at the event with some sweet bikes!) had given up his personal crankset for the weekend for me to race on. What a life saver!

So, I hopped back on my bike and did a short loop around the course after the junior races had finished so I could check out my tire set up and finish warm-up.

I felt about as prepared as I was going to get, and lined up as the men were just about to head out on their start/parade lap with the other women. The women's turn out was pretty low (11 starters), but it was also stacked! With Lene Byberg, Heather Irmiger, and Kelli Emmett from the World Cup circuit, Pua Sawicki with multiple 24-hour national titles and a Marathon World Cup Pro, Amber Neben who was a road TT World Champion, Chloe Forsman and Kay Sherwood with strong U23 and collegiate finishes, Krista Park who has competed nationally, Rebecca Tomaszewski who is a top-level SS and endurance mountain biker, and new to the Pro ranks Anna Fortner.

This crew was no joke!

I lined up I think on the far right of the first row and managed to hold on to the 2nd pack coming around by the feedzone (shown in Rick Watts' video below). I think the groups came back together while out on the start loop and we all took off up the first steep climb toward the singletrack on the lake side pretty much in single file.

Pro Women's Start lap (thank you to Rick Watt's!!)

I was on Pua's wheel for the first descent, and made sure to stick like glue to her on the short climb back up. I think I was sitting in about 6th place for most of the lap, and we would all regroup here and there, with small gaps forming. On the flats out to the other part of the course I caught back on to Chloe's wheel, and Pua went around both of us.



Photo: Dave Wrolstad

I think I managed to come around Chloe on the next climb and Pua continued to accelerate. I was with Heather on a short paved section in between the rollers and the small climb before we descend to the swim beach flats and climb up the switchbacks. We yo-yo'd a bit with me in front after that through the feedzone, and then she came around on the steep climb, and I think I passed back before the singletrack climb back up. I knew Heather was back there and we were all suffering, and the gap up to the top 3 (Pua, Kelli and Lene) was staying somewhat consistent for lap 3.



Photo: Dave Wrolstad

Lap 4 my legs started to get pretty packed up, but I continued to push. I wasn't sure of the gap from me back, but I knew that Pua was out of my sights for the most part, and that that gap was starting to get bigger. I didn't panic, just kept my pace as high as I could and tried to keep it moving. I knew coming in to lap 4 it was time to take a bottle, and decided to yank my visor since it was acting like a giant sail on all of the flats.

Cycling Videos on CyclingDirt

Thanks to Colt from Cycling Dirt for the killer coverage (as always).

Lap 5 I came around and shifted into my smaller ring on the steep climb at the beginning of the lap. I noticed my thumb shifter didn't seem like it was in the right place, but I down shifted anyway. When I went to shift into the bigger gear at the top of the short climb, what I figured was the case was truly the case… my front shifter was busted. I didn't know what was wrong, but I knew I'd be doing the entire lap in a 26T ring. Not exactly the best situation, but I hoped I had a big enough gap that it wouldn't matter. I was probably spinning about 120 RPMs on the flats and descents just trying to keep some momentum going, but I lost some time. I knew I was in the home stretch, though, so I made sure to smile for the photographers this time around.



Photo: Tom Shao

I was really stoked to have had such a great race. It was a lot of pain and suffering and pushing myself, but it was great to hang up front with some of the leaders for the early laps, and it was such a fun course. I know we've all got a long season ahead of us, and I don't think anyone went in to this race feeling particularly fresh or on top of their game, but it was still a really solid XC race.

I had no idea what was going to happen for Sunday since I hadn't really conserved what-so-ever. We were some of the last to leave the venue Saturday evening, and set out for some blackened salmon, rice, veggies, and a glass of vino. Yeah, so Justin and I also had dessert…

We checked in to the hotel around 8, and I sat on my butt while Justin fixed himself up with a new rear tire. My body utterly was in a state of disarray and had no desire to sleep. When we finally laid down around 10 pm (with the clock turned forward so it was actually 11 pm sort of) there was a lot of hotel noise. Justin requested nicely that the people outside quiet down, but it didn't really work out. Then it was about 85F in the room, so we turned on the A/C, and then it was about 65F in the room.

Since Justin's race was at 8:30 on Sunday (meaning getting there by 7 to set up and for him to be able to warm up before the race) we got up at 5:45. I think we wound up with about 3 hours of sleep. With coffee Sunday morning we got to the venue and I was HOPPING! Dancing around to music playing on the loud speaker and raring to go. My race, unfortunately, was still 6 hours away!

I supported Justin in the feedzone and by cheering and taking crappy pictures.





When Justin came around to the finish he was sprinting with 2 other guys. I knew that Gary Douville most likely had first (but a smaller gap than normal!), so I thought Justin had sprinted for 4th. When we looked at the results, though, 2nd place finished just ahead of him, and he was 3rd overall! He actually was in the way of a sprint for another age group (AG). Was super stoked for him! I think that was his top finish for that many guys in his AG, which is awesome. The hard work is paying off.

I got a short little warm up massage and felt utterly relaxed. My warm-up for short track wound up being a lot shorter than I would have liked, but my legs were feeling the effects of the day before and very little recovery or sleep. I had no idea how it was going to go, but I figured it only being 10 minutes plus one lap was better than it being 20-30 minutes.

As expected, it was utterly brutal. I had half a bottle of water, but never had a chance to drink any. It was all out with yo-yo's like in a big group road ride hammer fest, and I never knew when the group was going to go or when they were going to sit up, so I pretty much just "went" the whole time.







Bell lap there was a bit of a gap between Lene, Kelli, Heather and Chloe and then Amber, Pua and I. I made the tactical error of trying to pass on the only short rise in the course and wound up in a big rain rut at almost a complete standstill. I spent the rest of the lap to the grass sprinting to catch back on, running out of gears and legs in the process. I caught the tail end of Amber and Pua as we all entered the finishing sprint, and Pua outsprinted Amber with me falling a little ways back.

Super cotton mouth and I don't think there was any way to rehydrate from that! Felt like I'd been in the sahara desert for about a month with no water! I tried to spin around a little, and instead just kind of sat around in a daze. Justin was snacking on some sweet potato chips, and I realized all I wanted at that point was to snack and take a nap.

Instead we headed out in search of the Super D course, and wound up pedaling out there with Chloe and Pua, and catching on to the train of Kelli and her teammate Carl Decker. We had a fun run down the course while the Pro Men were warming up for Short Track.

I kind of sat around for awhile, and quickly it was time to pedal off to the start. I think a few of us women were kind of tired from the weekend and looking forward to finishing up. I sat down in the shade of the weeds near the top with Krista and Chloe as we waited for the Pro Men to go off. A few of the pro women chose not to Super D, so we got through our class pretty quickly.

I felt actually pretty good throughout. The one big climb I felt kind of slow on (in too big of a gear), but got through the rocky descent, crossed the road and felt pretty spent. Justin was standing on the sidelines cheering, and I tried to put in an effort for him, but had nothing left.



Just after I was out of his sight I came to a fork in the fire roads. I'd only done the Super D course one time, so thought I was out to the last descent and started to veer left to go down the hill. Just as I got to the course tape someone yelled "You're going the wrong way!" I scrubbed all speed, stopped, and veered back on course just at the bottom of a steep hill. Totally in the wrong gear I cranked up it really slowly, and hammered my way to the finish line for 4th.

Overall, I was pretty stoked on my 5th place for the weekend.

XC podium:



Super D podium:



I learned a few things in short track and super D, and hope to race a few more of those this season! I made two tactical errors that cost me (who knows how much?), and hope to take the lessons learned to make better choices next time around.

Still feel super beat from my efforts this weekend. I need to sleep!

Thanks again to everyone that was out cheering all weekend. It's great to hear people calling your name and ringing the cowbell when you're deep in the pain cave and suffering!

Not sure I will make it out to Rounds 2 and 3 of the Triple Crown, but I do highly recommend it to anyone that can make it!

Another weekend in the books!

I was bummed last week seeing rain in the forecast AGAIN, but Justin and I had our plans set either way. Saturday we'd race the 5th and final Southridge USA Winter Series race in the morning, head north to pre-ride the Bonelli course in the afternoon, and try to hit the dirt with Stephanie and her new ERA on Sunday somewhere.

I was pretty sure Krista would be coming out with her new bike to race, but was stoked when there were 4 of us on the line! I introduced myself to Essence Barton, who I've heard of, but had never formally met, and unfortunately didn't get a chance to greet the 4th and final woman.

We staged behind the Pro Men and started in the same wave. Once off, Essence pulled in front of the women's pack, with me right on her wheel. We stayed pretty close to the back of the men's pack, and I made a pass around the 4x track, and tried to catch back on to the men's field. Once I hit the pavement, I was feeling good, so tried to put in some efforts and make some passes. Since I'd had no idea if I'd be racing alone, my goal for the race was to keep within the men's field as much as possible and have a good race, so that's what I what I did!

I'm still getting used to the 2x10 gearing, and made a few gearing selection errors through my 4 laps, causing either tripods or short hike a bikes where normally I've been fine. The 26/36 is just too easy of a gear to get much torque on super steep stuff, so I know I need to be down further on the cassette to really utilize the 26T chainring. The 36/36 is too big if I'm not spun up and accelerating before the steeper stuff, and the recent rains have left some rain ruts where normally they didn't used to be!

Overall the course was in great shape (though Donny didn't send us up the hike a bike in the beginning since it's not groomed) and I had a blast out there going back and forth with the other racers. The weather held out and was pretty perfect for race conditions.

Thanks to Krista's phone and Derek Hermon for the photo!



I saw on the results sheet the 4th woman had DNF'd, but it was Amber Neben! How freaking cool is that!! I hope she's out for some more local races, as that is pretty sweet.

After awards Justin and I headed north west toward Bonelli to try to pre-ride. Rain was threatening, and we really had no idea of what the course(s) were going to be, but we set out to get some time on the course, and just started following course tape until we ran into the man himself - Scott Tedro! Scott was nice enough to show us around for part of the loop, and then we set off to ride a little more. It was getting colder, darker, and later, so we wound up not finishing up a lap and instead stopped by Rock N' Road in Anaheim Hills for some nutritionals and much needed bike parts! Had a great time hanging out until closing!

Justin was the early bird on Sunday morning getting up before 5 am and making banana pancakes before our big "bag the peak" ride we had planned. It was about 7 and no one had called the ride, so we loaded up to hit the OC for a few hours of mountain bike fun.

The clouds were low over the mountains, but it was clear as we drove over. We could see patches of snow up near the peak, and the local foothills had a dusting.







As we got to Irvine we saw more snow up on Santiago and knew we'd be in for a bit of a cold and snowy day!



Got to Cooks around 9:15 and temperatures felt "ok", but it was cloudy with no real sign of clearing into a gorgeous day. Our pack set off up the road toward Harding around 10.



Blue skies ahead!



The peak is hidden by clouds



We hit Harding and had a 9 mile climb ahead of us





Around halfway up Justin managed to SLICE his rear tire. This guy could flat in a padded room.



The higher we climbed the thicker the fog got



Until it cleared up again!



The crew at Four Corners



From there we headed into the mist and up into the colder clouds as we neared the peak



Snooooow







There at last!







The sound of the snow and ice melting off of the towers was scary at first! It was really coming down good as the wind gusted.

Soon we set off for a slight bit lower elevation…



We got down to the bottom of the first singletrack, where it was exposed to the biting wind, so headed down to the top of lower Holy Jim where we all huddled for warmth. It was awesome.



Thanks to Potts for the camera and CHanson for the editing!

Chugga-chugga



Almost there, and the sky darkens





So, the ride wasn't as long as planned, and it wasn't all that intense, but I ate a lot of food anyway







Killer weekend overall. Next up is the US Cup Triple Crown Race at Bonelli!

Battle at Bonelli!

Yesterday saw the conclusion to the 2009 US Cup series at Bonelli Park in San Dimas. It didn't seem like there was much in the way of East/West unification, but I know that there were some good battles in many of the categories anyway! In addition to battling each other, the racers had to battle some crazy heat. It was, literally, Sea Otter hot out there yesterday.

Saturday morning Justin and I got up and headed north to pre-ride the course and get out on the bikes again after their full rebuild (courtesy of Justin!) to make sure they were running A-ok. Beth and James met us for the laps before Beth set out on a big training day (4-5 hours on the bike and a T-run post-ride!) and James hit up the 3/4 CX race (So Cal Cross opener). The course looked like a blast! Lucky for me, as much fun as it seemed like it was, I'm glad I had no desire to strap on a number and hit up the race! The ladies were killing it, though. Had a great time cheering for them as I sat in the shade.





We got home and Justin cooked up some bomb breakfast burritos for us.

Uh.. I think we're gonna need a bigger "boat"



We lounged around a bit, then Justin went to work dusting off the bikes, and I did pre-race prep. 16 bottles. We managed to make it home with 10.



Sunday we slept in, which was good for me since I thought I was coming down with a cold (Justin thinks I have swine flu - kidding!). The extra sleep was awesome for me, cause I've been having some insomnia lately. We got out to Bonelli early anyway (before the Cat 2/3 starts in the morning), picked up our number plates and goodies, and did some socializing.

Some of the fast ladies out and about!



Me, Lisa, Dorothy Wong, Tonya, Heidi, and Joy. Lisa is great. She raced CX on Saturday, then did both XC and Super D on Sunday. I was totally stoked she won her category yesterday, and got selected to be "in the money" for winning!!

Eventually we took our cooler with bottles, extra wheels, and a pump up to the feed zone just in case! Then we sat around and ate some food and got dressed for the race. It felt way hotter on Sunday than it had on Saturday. Was great to catch up with Heidi V and Joy, and watch some of the early racers on course.

Justin and I started our warm-up after suiting up, and it was just hot out. The breeze wasn't doing much for us. I actually remember thinking as I grabbed my race bottle and finished prepping for the start that I thought I was dehydrated. Was I smart enough to do something about it? Um, no.

We lined up on the super hot pavement, trying to find an ounce of shade, and took off about two minutes after the Pro Men. Surprisingly enough, none of us attacked off the line. It was actually a very benign race start. Once we hit the dirt we all put in a much bigger effort, but no one wanted to seem to take the lead. I led out the first climb, but Krista was right on me and put in a small attack on a flat section. I stuck to her wheel. We hit some fluff in a sharp turn, and I put in a pass shortly after. I managed an attack and pulled a bit of a gap on the early climbs. I wasn't paying much attention, but coming around near the end of the lap Krista had easily closed the gap on me, and I was not feeling all that stellar anymore.

I led coming in for lap 1, but she was right behind me heading into the feedzone. HUGE THANK YOU to Carolyn and Don from the Sho-Air team for the awesome feedzone support. Don was doing water down the back as we went by, and Carolyn was handing off bottles.

Krista fell back just a tad, but was always right there. I'd pull a small gap, and she'd be closing it down. Lap 2 I started to shut down. Physically my legs and lungs felt fine, but my HR was sky high. When I started to notice goosebumps I slowed down. My HR didn't recover, but I felt like I was crawling. I said to myself, "If Krista passes, just hold her wheel until you can't." I had no idea what she was going through, but she didn’t put in an attack. I kept waiting for it, but it didn't come. When she did catch up, she held fast to my wheel. After the singletrack descent on lap 2 I saw that she was right back on me, and so was Justin. I kept waiting for Justin to pass, but he didn't. I knew someone was on my wheel, and as slow as I was moving, I kept wondering why they weren't passing. I realized it was Krista and not Justin. Once we got to the flats he came around, and Krista and I were unsure as to who was going to grab his wheel. She latched on to Justin, and I latched on to her. He pulled on the flats, but near the top of a little rise sat up and said he was blown.

I honestly almost broke. He had been feeling so good and ready to go, so I was super disappointed for him. I wanted to sit up and just ride with him to the finish. Instead I dug deep and caught back on to Krista's wheel and we went back and forth the entire rest of the lap. She passed just before the straight run in to the finish line, and led us out for lap 3.

I had no idea how she was feeling, and as much as I kept wanting to go, "Are you feeling as horrible as I am?" I didn't. Actually, I only felt like I was getting heat stroke. My legs were fine, and my RPE was surprisingly moderate throughout the race. Mentally I was struggling to keep moving at times, and other times felt really strong and ready to keep on trucking.

I pulled a small gap again on the early hills of lap 3, but Krista was always right there just half a turn away. I did what I could. She passed me, I think, and led out the singletrack descent this time. She got off line and bobbled, and I was like, "Nice save!" I have no idea how she pulled it out! I sat on her wheel on the rollers that followed more because I had nothing with which to attack than because I felt like playing tactics. I knew this was going to be a battle to the finish. I couldn't put in an attack this early on and make it stick, and she hadn't been able to do that either. It was going to come down to a sprint on the last hill or the finish turn/line.

She had gone into the fluff and I had gotten off line on lap 2 before a tight turn onto a steep climb. I pulled in front this time and put in a mini-attack. She kept on me, so I stopped making the effort any harder than it needed to be. I heard her gears going. Then I heard the chain drop. I looked back just for an instant to see her off the bike. I knew this was my shot, so I put in a massive TT on the flat pavement and up the next hill, down the steep descent, on the paved flat again, almost got head-on'd by a car?! driving on the course, and kept pushing to the finish line. I kept talking to my body, "I need you to do this for the next 5 minutes. You cannot let up. 5 minutes. Just hold on for 5 more minutes and I'll give you whatever you want." My body obliged, though not without a lot of suffering and pain, and I pulled through for the win.

It was a hard fought battle, and one I thoroughly enjoyed. Krista is a great competitor and racer, and I think despite the heat slowing us down a little, we both had a stellar race.



She took the series overall. We got these massive trophies to take home! It was awesome. The only thing that comes close is the marble slab from Idyllwild Spring Challenge!



Joy and I hefting our respective trophies



The goods



We had to stop to pick up some coffee creamer for today, and I had somewhat kept myself motivated with red wine of all things… Hmm…which shall I drink first?



I had some food, some water, and settled on the Porter. It seemed fitting.



Great weekend, great racing. Thanks so much to Sho-Air and Team Big Bear for the race series! Can't wait for next year.