Friday Night Racing

My short stay in CA luckily overlapped with one night of Friday Night Racing brought to you by Hellyer Velodrome and the one-and-only, Michael Hernandez; as much racing as your heart desires, and shenanigans that will keep you laughing and smiling all night.

I did not get to chat as much with everyone as I would have liked.  I seemed to either be on the track, changing gears, or trying to get on my rollers.

Another great night, keep up the good work, the fun times, and the fast racing.

Its all fun and games (or at least Andreas thinks so) until Megan is put into a Match Sprints. 

This is me trying to look serious, waiting for the throwdown.

Post-racing I went to the Cheesecake Factory.  Be jealous Bry Guy, well...not really, I didn’t even get a piece of cheesecake.  Tsk tsk.

Back on the road....or air...or rails...

I had a nice “vacation” back “home.”  Just like last year around this time, I am scratching my head (literally, as I have acquired a case of poison oak) wondering where “home” is.  I guess I can only list my homes:

Home #1: Where my family lives/Where I grew up

Home #2: California

And the most recent addition

Home #3: Limoux, France

 

Now that I am on the plane, headed back to France, I feel that my recharge trip to Home #2 (California) was exceptionally short and I am hoping my half-full battery can carry me through the next few months.  I was productive while in CA, but I am quite certain that a stop at Home #1 was in order, but as the Rolling Stones said, “You can’t always get what you want.”

This is the life a cyclist.  No complaints: the travel is uber cool, I go to amazing places and meet new people that I never would have had the opportunity to meet, and I am seeing the world by pursuing my passion. 

This is the life. 

Cycling has brought so many remarkable people into my life, all of who are excited for me and want to see (and help) me follow my dreams.  I want to express my gratitude to all of you; your comments on my blog, facebook, internet messengers, and the random emails help in sustaining my drive and focus when I am so far away. 

What it comes down to is: it is tough being away from the people I love.  Despite this, I have also realized that the people that I love would rather have me far away, living the dream, opposed to stalling out in one place because I am ‘homesick’.

So I board the plane, say ‘Au Revoir’, and I am off.  More races, more adventures, and more stories to come.  

My mini-vacation while on my ‘vacation’ ‘home’

While in California, I took a little vacation with Giovanni to Yosemite, a park that I have heard of my entire life but have never been to.  I was told it was a shame that I had never been to Yosemite, so I escaped for a couple days to the Disneyland of Nature.  It is rather incredible, and user friendly. 

A Photo Tour:

We arrived, and came to a dead end trail

But this didn’t discourage us, because we found the Visitor Center, read about pikas, the rock/granite formations, Ahwahneechee people, and found a map

We then got trapped inside a Ahwahneechee maze, and Gio felt at home

 Then we embarked on our hike.  Yes, you read it correctly, Mr. Sprinter and Ms. “I don’t do that walking thing in season” went on a hike.

We took a pit stop at the bottom of the little Yosemite Falls 

And continued on for hike that began with 60+ switch backs

 I am a bounder, Gio is a stroller, this made for some solo hiking on the way up

We found a friend. 

I told you it was like DisneyLand, the animals aren’t even afraid.  Gio attempted to replicate a classic Megan-photo.  I consider this well executed.

In Gio’s effort to get a picture, I almost took my “fall of death.” With my feet slipping, and me shreaking as much as I can shreak, some bystanders took mercy and quickly asked if we needed help.  I eagerly handed them the camera.

We then continued on a sandy path, on which Gio kept tempo better than me.....the tortoise passed the hare, that Aesop’s Fable never gets old.

We made it up less than half way (I am told the full way is a good 6hr hike – not for me), but this brought us to the top of the smaller, lower falls.

Please forgive the shaky hand, and lack of perspective.  I was a bit nervous hanging over the edge of our little rock.

 

We took a tour of the Mariposa Groves.  Enough hiking for these two cyclists, and I wanted my trivia, so we took the bus to the top.  Rode to the top, and hiked down.

 Such nerds.

Lots of burned stuff in this neck of the woods.

 We saw a lot of enormous trees.  All the Sequoia’s had names.  Some of the favorites were:

The Tunnel Tree

 The Fallen Monarch 

And the Grizzly Giant

(thanks to a Dead Head who has seen all Grateful Dead concerts since 1979 (but didn’t give us a number), we got a picture of both of us)

We hopped back on the shuttle for the 6 mile trek to the parking lot, and boarded with a French touring group.  They brought France to me, and, boy, were they rowdy.  This was only the warm-up.  It got much louder.  I joined in.  Gio didn’t find it so amusing.

 And the French Bus Finale.

 

We had a rather unsuccessful bike ride, which went straight up, forever, and we saw a coyote.  Or should I say, Gio chased the well-adapted coyote off the road.  We were both too grumpy to take pictures.  But after some water, we recovered, and were able to appreciate our surroundings (and company) again.

Big Decisions, Big Changes

If you are just tuning into meganguarnier.blogspot.com, you may not know that I have been racing in France for the past 2 months for a team based out of Dijon (yes, Dijon as in Dijon mustard).  I have been living in Southwestern France, about 80km from the Mediterranean and 60km from the Pyreness (no, I haven’t been to either).

I have been offered the opportunity to continue to race in France for the remainder of the 2009 season. After a painstaking decision making process (where I was even given a book by my hosts on “how decisions are made”), I have decided to stay in France to continue racing the French road circuit. 

I have been fortunate to be on ProMan, which has provided me numerous opportunities that enabled me to attain my current level of cycling.  I am sad that I will miss out on being part of the growth and success of ProMan. Nikki does such an amazing job at supporting and developing her athletes, and I am proud and honored to have been part of such an amazing team with such amazing managment, athletes, and friends.  

 

Looking to the future, I am excited by the opportunity to be racing the remainder of the year in Europe.  My experiences over here are facilitating my athletic and personal development. I am so fortunate to have been given this opportunity, and I am literally soaking in every minute of it (especially the chocolat chaude, but not too often!) There is a whole world of new challenges and adventures and I hope you will stay dialed in as I continue this journey.

More Pictures, Less Talk

The view from the porch outside my bedroom at the host house

The host house

Where we ate our pre-race lunch

Team Cars

Post Race with my hosts

 Felix loved yelling to me: "deux minutes!" from the follow car

The worst of travel

Does it get any worse than:

-Crying babies

-Loud toys that unsuccessfully attempt to make babies stop crying

-Bad breath from the guy next to you that stimulates the vomiting reflex

-The person across from me keeps stepping on my feet (I am in the seats on the train that face each other)

-An incessantly meowing cat somewhere in the cabin

-Coughing and sneezing people everywhere

-Every seat filled

-No toilet paper in the disgusting (I leave this to your imagination) toilletes 

-A woman with TWO large dogs reeking of the scent of murky pond

 - Two words: Body Odor

-Post-train ride, arriving at 3 different hotels....all the "wrong" ones.  (Including a 4 minute taxi ride for 14 Euro, and a 6 minute  taxi ride for 18 Euro - cheap, eh?)

The light at the end of the tunnel: free wi-fi at the hotel.  Totally worth the lost euro on the taxis after 3 days without internet.

That was Monday's travel day.  Thank goodness Tuesday's travel day, albeit tre long, was much less eventful.

Back in CA for a blink (and loving it)!!!!

Ma Premier Victoire en France!!!!

Yay!  Yay!  Yay!  I got my first win in France under my belt this Sunday!  After quite a bit of travel, a little bit of stress dealing with travel logistics, and a moderate amount of self-doubt regarding the vigor of my legs, I pulled off the BIG W.

Friday I raced in Saint Salvy de la Balme with the USA girls (I only learned I was racing this race Thursday night, which makes for adequate preparation).   It was a loop with about a 3km climb and then a long gradual descent, into a hairpin to start the climb again.  Not too many women showed up, but we (USA girls and me) made it aggressive from the start.  I made the initial selections, and I was very aggressive at the start of the race – initiating many attacks to get things moving (small fields usually result in negative racing).  Ultimately, the last 3 (or 4?) loops were a solo TT effort, for a 5^th place finish.  A good training day under my belt.

Saturday: Travel to Dijon on a train, then to Amancy/Flagely with ASPTT Dijon, near the Swiss border.  Beautiful countryside – it reminded me a bit of Vermont.  

We previewed the course: an intimidating 2-3km climb complete with wind that was literally blowing us off the road.

Sunday:  Phillipe (our director) advised me that due to the wind, I need to “cache” (hide) in the pack (I like the word cache).  The final 600meters with a head wind was a bit menacing as well, but was thankful that if it was a bunch finish it would render a safe sprint.

So how I came about to be on top of the podium:

ASPTT Dijon was aggressive the first 3 laps, we attacked/countered/stayed at the front and kept the big threats at bay.  Stephanie was hoping to regain the ‘orange’(leader’s) jersey in the Bourgogne.  I was informed of the main threats at the race start, and I kept my eye on them; forced them to chase my teammates and made sure that I was prepared for any attack they would initiate.  My attacks weren’t incredible; I was lacking pop in my legs today, but even little jumps kept the other women on their toes.  Two women countered one of my attacks on the 2^nd lap, and got off the front, neither of them were labeled in my small catalogue as threats, so I did not panic.  The two women stayed away for almost a full lap, but were eventually reeled in as we kept a decent pace.  Once they were reeled in, on lap 3.25, I attacked.  Again not a superb attack, but I had a big gap.  So I dug.  I figured this was my final suicide attempt here.  I would stay away as long as I could, tiring the other strong girls out that needed to bring me back if they wanted to win.  I assumed I wouldn’t have anything left to give ‘when’ I was caught by the pack, so I wanted to ensure that the other women had to work for it.  Using up their energy, would help secure the leader’s jersey for Stephanie.  

Anyway, I stayed away through the first climb, but I could still see the pack, so I thought for sure I would be brought back.  By the time I had completed one full lap since my attack, I had put 47 seconds on the field – still a small enough gap that it was feasible for the field to chase me down.  The last lap I had one minute, and then after the final climb I had 2 minutes on the field.  Whoa.......

By the time I finished, I was 2min30seconds ahead of the field.

Crossing the finish line I was so cross-eyed that I gave to weakest victory salute known to man-kind – only one arm found its way in the air as the other was limp at my side.  I was utterly spent.  My faux excuse is that I raced for 1.25hrs and then I time-trial for 1.25hrs....when was the last time you saw someone give a victory salute after a time-trial?  I did, however, remember to zip up my jersey.  I will go ahead and give myself props for that.

 

(Teammate Stephanie was 2nd in the bunch sprint - Congrats!)

So that is that – my first win in France!  Wooohoooo.  It was awesome hearing my name cheered all throughout the course, I suppose that is how the pro’s feel.

"Write about your birthday, this is important stuff"

says Einat.

Monday was my birthday.  My Dad had to be reminded.  Retirement must be nice; you forget about days and dates.  But we are even, I forgot about the birthday presents he gave me.  I love that awkward part 5 minutes into the conversation, "Dad....its my birthday...."  Love you Dad!

Its been a birthday week!!  I have yet to learn how to stretch my birthday into whole months, like my brother and Paleaz.

I started celebrating with ASPTT Dijon.  We had pineapple, chicken, red pepper lasagna (crazy combination I know, but delicious!) and a strawberry shortcake type thing.

Next Devon, Jerika, and Einat took me to get chocolat chaude. If you have ever had French hot chocolate before, you can appreciate how exciting this was.  When the bill came, and I tried to chip in I was yelled at: "Haven't you had a birthday before!  You don't pay!  This is how it works."

Later that afternoon, I met the girls in the square (something I was looking forward to, since I have not spent any time in the square, which is the popular hangout). 

In the square I was given my "fresh baked carrot cake".  For the past few weeks, Jerika has been telling me about how amazing her carrot cake is - so what is more perfect than my favorite kind of cake on my birthday?  Well, according to Jerika the oven doesn't "work" right (I personally don't believe this story), so instead Jerika spent all morning creating a mix cd entitled "Fresh baked carrot cake" which includes some of our car trip songs.  Great gift - it lasts much longer and I will smile every time I listen to it!

Devon and Jerika then treated me to a pastry in the square.

(Today was "sweet" pastry day)

As always, Monday nights are spent up at the farm.  Patrice made me my favorite; the most delectable chocolate mousse that ever crossed your lips, with my favorite shortbread cookies.

Jo's birthday was on Tuesday, so in celebration we went to the Italian restaraunt with killer ice cream sundaes and profiteroles .

(it still stands true that I love everything Italian.)

Unintentional facial expression role reversal.

The story behind this picture: 

Megan exclaims: "Can you get a picture of Einat and me?!" 

An annoyed Einat: "Again?!  We have so many pictures of us."

Megan disgustedly: "Well we go a lot of places together....I guess we have to document it."

Last night Einat made pizza (healthy of course), and we enjoyed it on our freshly painted roof.  

Following pizza, I finally went to the crepe place.  It took me 8 weeks, but I had my crepe last night.

I need to update

2 races last weekend.

Friday: Luxembourg, Elsy Jacobs, UCI 1.1.  10 x 10km loop with 2x 2km climb on each lap.  It was the first time I have ridden in hot weather this year; unlike the 45 degree, rainy weather of France the past couple of weeks, race day in Luxemboug was beautiful and warm resulting in copious consumption of liquids.  I missed the break that went off within 5km of the first lap.  It was hard and the final sprint (in the peloton) was uber sketchy.  I never really had the opportunity to sprint considering in the last 150meters I hit my breaks at least 3 times in order to keep the rubber side down.  Undeterred, I still tried to keep sprinting, but looking back I can say I was very scared.  I think everyone in that peloton should get a trophy for keeping it upright.  If you could have seen this sprint, I bet you would agree that the ability to cross the finish line still fighting for the sprint, is worthy of a test drive in a certain Audi RS4. (Ahem)

Sunday: "Paris" - French Cup.  Notice the quotes.  I was very excited to be going TO Paris; it was going to be my first time in Paris.  I thought we would be racing in the city.  So you can imagine my disappointment when we pulled up to a suburb of the city to race.  I "saw" the Eiffel Tower (from the Autoroute).  Race report to follow.