Wente Road Race 09 from Niki

Wente was my third road race. Joaquin and I carpooled, and he shared some of his grueling experiences from last year's race on the drive down. Listening to him, I started to get nervous. Then, as we approached Livermore, Joaquin said, "There's the course." I squinted at the horizon. "Where?" Joaquin pointed to the windmills lining the ridge of some hills and my heart sank. I'd been told there would be wind and hills, but didn't realize we would be riding through a freaking windmill farm. I like hills (not like Anna likes hills, but I do like them), but I HATE wind. Mentally it has always been my hardest hurdle. I tried to put the site of the windmills out of my mind. At least there was sun. No rain or hail. Focus on the positive. After warming up riding loops on the road for about an hour and bonding briefly with other DBC'ers, it was time to move towards the line-up. I was waiting on the outskirts when I suddenly realized my group was already at the line getting instructions. I'd missed some of the key points about the KOM and start, and felt a little anxious standing at the very back. Then suddenly Kevin was at my side, taking my mind off my nerves, offering words wisdom on the course conditions, encouragement, and praising the skill with which my number was pinned on my jersey (the credit goes to Joaquin for that!). The roll-out was good. I maneuvered to the front to be closer to Ruth (the only other DBC lady in the 4's race) and was getting my wits about me and starting to feeling pretty good. I knew the first hill would determine much for me, and as I expected everyone started hammering when we started to climb. At first I was with Ruth and the first group, but then suddenly found myself slipping back. Shortly after the first hill I was spit off the back. I hoped to catch up and powered hard, but soon realized it wasn't going to happen. With my heart rate spiking and my morale sinking, I racked my brain for a good excuse to quit. Bad, bad, dark, grim attitude! Suddenly I found myself with a second group of about 10-12 strong women. Together we formed a line and powered down the hills, up the rollers, and back down to the "flats," taking turns at the front and working together through the wind. My heart rate returned to a sustainable rate, my attitude improved exponentially, I got my "second wind," and was having fun and feeling strong again. There wasn't much chit chat amongst us, but the teamwork was great despite our different affiliations. We remembered to warn each other not to "blow up" while encouraging each other to keep going hard. When we hit the hills again, we were back to racing against each other and started to splinter again. By the time we reached the rollers, there were only about 5 of us still together. Once again we worked through the hills, false flats and wind to reach the final climb to the finish. I told myself not to push too hard too soon, and to look for that 200 meter mark on the pavement. The cheers of first Dawn and then Michele, Carolyn, and others at the Feed Zone helped me dig deep. At first I had a small lead on a couple ladies from the little group I'd been working with, but I slipped back at the end. Clearly I still need to work on the mental and physical power for that final push. I ended taking 23rd. I had hoped to do better, but I learned that I can feel like hell in the beginning, overcome the down points and still rally for the finish in a tough race against really tough chicks. From the finish, I returned to the Feed Zone to cheer other riders and relive some of the race with Doug, Michele, Carolyn, Kevin and Ruth (who did great!). When Anna suddenly roared into view right behind the Moto dude, we went ballistic, jumping and cheering. The smile on Anna's face was fantastic! The following day, Jeff and I drove to Chico for the Wildflower. We started later than planned, so upped the pace and cut off some miles for a quick 70. The weather was almost perfect: sunny and cool. I felt surprisingly strong and good riding through the (lesser) winds and (steeper) hills of the century despite the events of Wente. I wasn't wearing my kit, but Jeff had on the DBC jersey, and we saw several other DBC folks out there. I only chatted with one other DBC'er, Dave (former race director), but was sure to yell "Go Davis!" when I saw others out there powering along. This team is great! I'm looking forward to my next road race - Michele and me with the men in Modesto in May. YeeHa!
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Niki