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.