Race Report: Definitely Not Winter in Winters

5am. It often amazes me the things I do to race a bike. Like wake up at 5am on a Saturday… after falling asleep at 4am. I'm seriously becoming a pro at this pre-race insomnia thing. Haven't ever had as much of an issue with it as I have in the last couple weeks. So, with a whopping 60 minutes of sleep in my system, I show up to Winters. 8am. 80 degrees. Rockin'.

First 30 minutes of the race were strollin' Sunday ride slow. Field of almost 40 riders. The pace picked up a bit on the rollers, but not significantly, and I stayed in the front 1/4 of the pack to prepare for a hill I had never seen nor could anyone tell me where on the course it was. Varying accounts put the climb in the first 10 miles, the last 10 miles and in the middle. Thinking about it now, since the course was only 24 miles long, turns out all accounts were right. I managed to stay at the front through the feed zone, mutter an "Eh" when Katy asked me how I was feeling from the sidelines and finally started moving backwards when the road made a hard right, jolted upwards and the climb finally started to get serious.

I chased and managed to snag a Dolce wheel on the descent and we started moving in pursuit of the pack. The two of us picked up four more riders (photo) and the six of us drilled it for the rest of the first lap, where we were told we were only 1 minute behind the field when we crossed the finish the first time around. However, about 1/3 of the way into the 2nd lap we all looked at each other, laughed and declared ourselves cooked. It was 90 degrees and we were all trying to prepare for the 2nd time up the hill, vowing to "wait for each other" (ha, right, that never happens) lest we ride the long windy flat section to the finish line by ourselves.

2nd time up the big hill, I got a second wind, which is a very odd feeling after 40 miles and 60 minutes of sleep. I started slogging upwards, dropped 3 of my companions and tried to stay with the 2 gals in front of me. I actually watched a 3rd Pillar guy unclip and start walking uphill. It was unreal.

On the way back down, I wound up again with the Dolce gal and a Bella. We worked to keep the ladies who didn't do as well the 2nd time on the hill behind us, trading pulls into the wind. I start cramping at the 1K line. Good times.

200 meters to go, Dolce attacks, I go with her. We drop the Bella. Dolce snags my wheel. I'm unable to stand for fear of muscle lockout. She comes around and nips me at the line.

I came in 21st out of a pack of 37, which I'm actually pretty darn happy about all things considered… the hill, the heat, the lack of sleep. I don't know, maybe I have a future in 24-hour racing on the dirt. Next up: sleeping. And San Ardo.