was really worried going in to this race. I had absolutely no appetite in the morning. I had a "magic drink" of green power, oatmeal, soy protein, and soy milk and a piece of spelt bread and peanut butter. The race was 77 miles in 40 mph winds. Ouch. I drank only three bottles and had 6 goos. When I got home I had tempe, vegan gourmet and corn tortillas. For dinner I had borwn rice, chick peas, salad, broccoli, and carrots.

The race began with a neutral 2 miles uphill and then started with some climbing right away. The first bonus sprint was 6.5 miles in. Historically, this sprint shattered the field, but this year the group stayed together until near the top of the first climb. I got pitch around mile 11 or 12. There was some nice flat rolling and downhill sections after that. Myself and Olivia, 3 Tibco, and a few others worked together gradually picking up people. Right before the infamous Sapillo descent, I had (another) chain issue (J thinks I'm shifting impaired). This ended up being good because I could totally bomb down the descent and passed lots of people and moved back up to the front of our chase group. The group was about 15 strong. I did quite a bit of work at the front, along with a Kona/Sobe, a Value Act, and some of the Tibco. (One Tibco had a mishap on the rollers and went down, so her team mates had to catch back up after they stopped for her).

Around mile 55 or so we caught back up the front group. There was a group of three off the front (Cheerwine, Tibco, Aarons). I tried to do a lot to keep Kelly out of the wind and move her to the front when she needed it. It was tough, especially since we were going straight into the wind. We closed the gap on the front group to 40 seconds (it was as high as 5:30 at one point). Big group sprint, with Proman taking 4 and 5. I got 24 (my best NRC placing yet). Kelly got 21, Olivia 27, and Maria got 33. The GC was Kelly in 6th, Maria in 16, Me in 28, and Olivia in 31.

In other news, the girl who took me out yesterday ended up with a shattered pelvis. Ouch!

Tomorrow: the TT.