Bonelli Hors Categorie and the Sea Otter Classic

The last 2 weekends were filled with 2 huge races here in California and 2 big disappointments for me.  At the end of the day it'a all good though, my life is awesome and God is still amazingly good.

The April 11 UCI race at Bonelli was never a goal of mine, but once when my training went well the couple weeks prior, I decided it fit into the rest of  my race plans I was ready to give it 100%.  The start of the race was aggressive as usual but I got through the first lap without any trouble.  I was riding pretty well around 40th place out of 110 guys and felt fairly comfortable.  Then going into the 2nd half of the race my energy started to drag and dropped off.  I still managed 47th but it was not what I was capable of and I was not happy with the fact that I put in less than my best effort at such a big race.  

Things got worse that night when Cameron threw up before bed and then I woke up in the middle of the night with a stomach bug.  Beth wasn't far behind us.  It was a rough couple days and definitely not good for my recovery.  Luckily it didn't last too long, we powered through the work week and I got in a few easy spins on the road bike. I felt fine by the end of the week and decided to stick with the plan and head to Sea Otter.  

We had a smooth trip and a nice time in Monterey, but I didn't have what it takes when the gun went off for the race.  Once again there was a completely awesome pro field with Olympians, world champs, nationals champs, and all sorts of other fast guys.  The course layout was the most roadie version I've seen at Sea Otter and I didn't get myself near the front like I needed to at the hectic start.  So I spent the whole first lap of the two lap race working my way up past guys just to get into the top half.  Going into lap 2 I still had the potential for a good day as a big group racing for the top 40 was within sight, but my energy started falling apart early into the lap and I suddenly had nothing left to give.  I always want to put up a good fight and was really frustrated that I wasn't able to do that.

It's really cool to see these racing scene doing so well with huge turnouts and the pro fields are the strongest the US has seen in years.  While frustrated I wasn't at my best, I'm thankful just to be a part of it all and look forward to giving it another shot at the Whiskey 50 this weekend.  I'm feeling fine and know that if I can get in that groove of simply enjoying the moment and riding my hardest on race day, then the results will follow.

Thanks for reading and cheering me on!  Dana