Dolman's Classic

Had a really strong race today.  

We didn't look at the finish yesterday.  I had a good sprint left in my legs but was unaware of the hairpin turn 200meters from the finish.  

I dropped the hammer down, was in my 53-12/13, noticed the hairpin waaaay too late, came millimeters from hitting the curb, while everyone (who was aware of the finish flew by me) and I completely blew the finish.

I am wildly disappointed.

Gorges de Galamus

I was a co-guide with Chris today on one of his tours.  We covered a lot of distance.

Here I am driving (solo) through the gorges, hence the footage through the windshield.

On this first video check out the depth/distance of the gorges (when I shoot through the passenger window).

 

Notice the width of the roads, but thats not the impressive part - these Gorges are breath-taking.

I had to sacrifice my photography  in order to prevent a stall....I posted this one so you could appreciate how the rock/mountian is completely cut into (and because its funny); there was little clearance from the overhang for the car with a bike on top.)

Cholet - cyclingnews

Cyclingnews photo gallery

Yay!!!

Cholet today.  It was a French Cup, 178 women, 5km course.  Started at the back, that was scary.  

BUT

I GOT SECOND!!!  I just got nipped at the line.  With 2 laps to go, I bridged to a break, so there were four of us.  Two women from Futuroscope, and then another......I led it out with 2km to go, noone would come around me.  So at 1km to go, I opened 'her' up and dug really really really really deep.  The girl on my wheel started to come around me with 300meters to go, I dug deeper, then with like 50meters to go, the girl third in line came around, and nipped me, just BARELY nipped me......sooooooo close.   BUT I GOT SECOND IN A FRENCH CUP!!  Je suis content.

More to follow, but this is my post-6hrs of driving, race day its 1AM here race report. 

Interval #11

The beginning:
(Lauren with the Cafe and Chocolate)

(Amanda with the Mint)

(Einat trying to hide with the Pirol.....something or other; "If you can't see me, I wasn't part of it!")

The END:

Our Celebratory Hairpieces (no, we aren't tourists....):

Chris's Notorious "10 Hills" Ride

We went on Chris's Famous 10 Hills Ride today; its up or down, up or down.  

(View from the top of Climb #2)

(Amanda snapped a good shot in the middle of the ride)

(View from top of Climb #5....or 6, I can't quite remember)

(Einat at the top of the same climb.....Pyrenees in the background, and a "dead bike" on the ground)

(Me, enjoying the view)

(The Final Climb, #10, its not the prettiest, its about 700meters long with an average of 16% grade.  It wore on the legs a bit after the first nine climbs.  We are looking down at Limoux.)

(Me and Amanda in "le place" after the ride....preparing for the well-earned Oranginas)

(Einat and Chris in the square.  Chris made this all happen for me.  Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you Chris!)

("Orangina time" - fizzy orange "soft" drink.  Seems to be the post-ride special.  Look how excited I am about this new treat!  No wait, I think I am so excited because I am RACING AND TRAINING AND LIVING IN FRANCE!!!!!)

Grand Prix de Chambéry

So much to write about, and so little time and patience to actually get it all down on "paper".

I left off with my first race weekend, but I later realized I forgot important details like the Friday farmer's market in the town square.  This town has a "place" (pronounce "plaaaaahhs" in French) with the perimeter outlined with cafes, complete with a fountain.  I am sorry for the lack of a photo at the moment.  Farmer's market was great.  Einat towed me around as we looked for the best looking (and best priced) produce.  Most importantly we found almonds, and we ordered deux cent gram (prenounce "do sahn grham").

Post-marche (market), I started my second day of bike maintenance, and you all know how that went.

Returning to Chambery (the last topic of my previous post). Race report:

The race is a 8km circuit that we did 10 times.  Starting with a 2km gradual descent, that brings you into an industrial zone where you corner through relatively (it is all relative) "wide" streets.  The final 2km are along a straight-away that consists of roundabouts where everyone is jockeying for position for the hairpin turn into a relatively steep ~700meter climb (into the town of Chambery).  I heard the climb was about 10% grade, and it gets steeper as you get to the top, where the finish line was.

(Building at the start finish.  This photo was taken the day before, so the fan-fare isn't represented)

So the first lap was uneventful, until the climb where we went ballistic.  Repeat scenario for the second lap.  The third lap, a break went on the climb.  Not surprising in the least, but I was being an idiot in the middle of the pack and was unable to respond to the attack on the climb; I was far enough back, that any attempt I made at that point would have been futile.  That lap, I let the Italian team, who did not have representation in the break, work at the front; I figured they would be motivated to bring the break back.  The Italian team evenutally gave up, and at that point the break had probably about a minute on the field.  I figured I could not single-handedly bring the break back myself, so all I could do was sit in.  I discussed, to the best of my ability, with my French teammate that we were not represented in the break, and she seemed to be okay with that, and it didn't appear that our team was going to chase either.  

The course (and field) was relatively mellow (again, this is relative to European racing) until the climb each time.  I was playing with my gearing/cadence each time up the climb, but never seemed to get it right.  One would think with 9 times to practice I would get it right for the finish.  But I didn't.  The last corner into the finishing climb, there was a mis-hap (someone went down) directly in front of me that I got a bit tied up behind (again, I should have been further up in the field), so I had a bit of catching up to do on the hill.   I surprised myself with how quickly I closed the gap that had formed once I was stuck behind the crash.  I was jamming up the hill, picking off people, and then one of my really sweet teammates comes flying by me "Allez Megan!  Allez!  Allez!  Allez!"  It was awesome.  I couldn't 'allez' any faster, but it made it mentally less difficult to grind out that finish because I was smiling inside.

So I missed the break, I was being silly with my gearing and positioning, and to top things off it would appear that my out-of-true rear wheel (different from the wheel with the broken spoke from the training ride) was rubbing on the brake the whole race (oh and I dropped my chain to the outside a few times too).  I feel that I can perform a lot better, but I am not too down on it all. The important point is that I need to learn from my mistakes.  It was  good race, I got some good intensity and I am racing in Europe!  Chris is a rockstar for setting this all up for me, I am so excited, and I know its going to be a great spring.

I met the French team I will be guest riding with for my trip for the first time on Sunday, and they are SO NICE!  Only one of them speaks a tiny itty-bitty bit of English, so communication is very difficult.  But they are so enthusiastic and so nice!  This is a huge motivation to learn french; it was difficult not understanding them because I so dearly wanted to know what they were saying - I could tell it was all positive.  They were excited and there were a lot of pictures taken, unfortunately none with my camera.  During the race, all of the girls kept coming up and asking "Ce va?"  (How are you?), which was really sweet (and yes, I can answer this question).  After the race, they asked me how it went, I said: it was good, the hill hurt, but the rest was good, and then I showed them the wheel rubbing on the brake (I only discovered this little issue after I slowed down after the finish line).  The director/one of my teammates, then relayed the message through a translator (we found someone who speaks English and French) that I can use their sick wheels for the next race.  They also said that they are going to let me use one of their team bikes as well.  Today I received an update on that project: I will get the new bike on Saturday (complete with components, so I will 'only' have to mess with power meter and geometry) and I will have until Sunday morning to get it up and running - Wish me luck!  

 

Bonjourrrrrr!

A long overdue update from my adventures to France. It has been quite a whirlwind and I will type as much as I can before I grow tired......actually that is a lie: I will type get to as much as I can before my roommate is done Skyping and when we can start watching our nightly "Alias" episode.

Let us start from the beginning. Packing, the airport, the travels: always fun, always a panic. I brought very few actual clothes, mostly cycling gear, race/bike nutrition, almond butter, TriggerPoint, my power meter, filling two suitcases to 48.9lbs and 49.6lbs. Packed to perfection thanks to the "luggage scale" my mother gave me for Christmas.

Despite my exhaustion (and a dosage of melotonin) and having an open seat next to me, I was unable to sleep on the airplane. One stop in Frankfurt where I could hardly keep my eyes open and then a short skip (2hr flight) into Toulouse, where I was greeted by my new roommate, Einat.

Thursday I put together my bike for the duration of my trip; much easier said than done. By Friday evening, I had spent about 8hrs of "bike maintenance"; putting on the powermeter, fitting the bike, and then trying to get the power meter to work. 8 hours. By the time I got it all situated to ride on Friday (yes, I rode on Thursday), I missed Friday's group ride with the girls and embarked on my own. 30km from my new home, I was descending the narrow, windy descents that are so common to the area, and driving through a corner, I snapped a spoke. At first I thought it was a rock that I kicked up, but quickly realized something was wrong. 30km from home, and I hadn't seen a single car in at least 20 km. What to do? McGiver it and ride it home, with a little extra resistance from an out-of-true wheel rubbing on the brake. Once back home, I grabbed another wheel, and finished my ride. (View from the top of a climb. Look into the distance, those are the Pyrenees)

Saturday was our travel day to Chambery. Chambery was the last race I did when I was abroad last season. So my first race here, I was familiar with. We arrived in Chambery, my power meter finally working and I finally felt more at ease - "familiarity" you don't miss it until its gone. New country, new people, new routine, new landscape, new food, new bike (as my first coach explained to me: "the bike is an extension of yourself" so inductive reasoning concludes "new self").

But its good to be taken out of your element. That is what bike racing is all about. When everything is new it is incredibly exciting, but it can also be scary, uncomfortable and borderline overwhelming.

Saturday's travel day was interesting, again. All cars in Europe are standards, and theoretically, I know how to drive a standard. After Einat's long "pull" driving, it was my turn (it appears that not a lot of Americans know how to drive standards these days - shame on us). Sure enough, after 20 minutes on the highway, we hit bumper-to-bumper traffic, stopped, on a mountain. I stalled a few times, but kept my cool. My totally hands off co-pilot (Einat) was amusing; she said I would figure it out eventually. Props to my passengers Einat and Lauren, they bared with me without too much anxiety. Another car did a sympathy stall alongside me during one of my stalling episodes.

(The familiar cross at the top of the mountain above Chambery.)

Pre-race ride, the weather was beautiful, my legs felt decent considering the novelty and travel. Chris really hooked us up in a plush hotel with a great athlete dinner (and right on the race course).

I am missing a lot, but that is all I have in for me tonight. Time to watch the boob-tube and go completely mindless before bed-time.

Orchid Adoption!!!

Wanted: a plant-lover who needs to fill an orchid void in their life.

I have taken a good, steady pull with this orchid; my job was to keep it alive as long as I was in California. I succeeded, and the orchid is thriving (look at all the new flowers!). However, I am going on an extended trip overseas to do some bike racing, and I do not want my beautiful flower to whither. Before I leave I want to place my beautiful little plant in trustworthy hands.


It will love you as much as you love it.