Valley of the Sun 2009- Courtney

It’s nice to come back to racing a bike after a two year hiatus!  I was a bit on the nervous side because of that fact…  Would I be dropped, would I be dropped, would I be dropped kept racing through my mind.  But, luckily from a little experience I reminded myself to relax and do the best I could…  I did and here are the results….

Fri. Feb. 13th TT:  4th Place/22k…  Know my time was slow and will actually use my TT bars next time….  So early in the season…  At least I wasn’t last….  Had a lot of fun, but know there is more in me…

Sat. Feb 14th RR:  35+ and cat 4 women rode together which was nice because I think there were only 8 women in my field…  (35+ that is).  Felt fine the entire time…  Stayed on the GC leaders tale the entire race…  Blew my position a bit in the final sprint, a lot of cat4 gals almost crashed into me and some put on their brakes…  Not conducive to a safe race…  ughhhh….  Anyway, I got 3rd…  Not to bad considering I am not a climber…lol…  I felt like the race was a bit on the slow side, but wasn’t going to waste a bit of energy…  Went off the front a few times to see if I could get anything started, but the entire peleton wanted to be in a break….  It was fun..

Sun. Feb 15th:  Knew I wouldn’t be able to make up my minute and change deficit in the crit, but did my best…  The 35+ women decided to NOT race with the cat4 women..  We knew there would be a crash…  There were..  2 actually..  So our race started with 8 women..  the top four, including myself broke away right away…  seemed like the gc leader and this other gal had a plan..  our pace was higher than anything we had done the entire race…  Ultimately it came down to the slightly uphill finish and I had ZERO sprint…  I was passed by one gal and got 4th…  Was a bit frustrated because this was my specialty in the past… 

 

The race overall was a great opportunity for me to learn where I am race wise.  I am ready to ride with the cat3 women for sure in my next race..  I need to work on TT without a doubt and increase power over distance…  I hade a GREAT TIME and felt like the race was put together nicely!!!!!

Courtney T.

1st Win of 2009- El Paso Puzzler

It was 6:12 hrs of rocky, knarly trails, but the 2009 EPP is in the bag. I led the race until Jennifer Tribe-Wilson (Titus/WTB, PRO women) passed me going up the loose and steep Mundy’s Gap climb, at about 3-1/2 hrs. She ended up putting 14 minutes on me at the finish. I was crawling, and walking the last few climbs, believing somone’s gonna catch me.

I think everyone was hurtin’ at that point. I’ve got serious chammy burn now, and the whole body is sore. This endurance race is extremely challenging! You have be be alert the whole race. One false move, and your in a cholla, or prickly pear cactus. The cacti are right on the side of the narrow, rocky trail, so its real easy to get poked.

A befitting Trophy

Special Recognition to Dave and the BMBA crew. They had volunteers all over the course, and it was organized quite well. Dave and Jen (yes that WTB/Titus Pro rider is his wife!) are swell people.

Special Shout-Out to Ralph and Pete at our bike shop, Cottonwood Cycles, in Farmington. They provided my 29er GEAX 2.2 TNT Saguaros tires that worked very well, with no problems. They also provide my Hammer Nutrition products too! Hey Pete: the Thompson Masterpiece seatpost works great!!

The GF Superfly took a lot of rock punishment today, so I’ll have to give it a good look over to make sure it’s ok. Lots of rocks smacking the downtube and chainstays. I couldn’t see anything obvious after the ride.

Update: I’ve inspected the bike, and there’s not even a scratch on the downtube! Looks like the Superfly handled the rocks well!

I need some days off, I don’t think I can even sit on a bike seat anyway.

Keifer

Yes, Our Sponsors do get exposure!!

Here’s a Durango Magazine Ad that a friend gave me today. These are handed out all over Durango to drum up ads for the Durango Magazine.

Pretty Cool! Stadick is there too!

This was the IHBC downtown Crit race.

Keifer