Nature Valley Grand Prix

Whoa! As of now, this was the hardest race I've ever done! I survived but barely and not without some serious aches and pains......

The race is a time trial, 3 crits and 2 road races. The time trial and first crit were on the same day and after the time trial, I was feeling good, excited for the racing to come and that my teammates were sitting in good positions for the evening to come. The crit that afternoon was in a new place than the previous years and what was so funny is that I've been to the same location just in January when they had the Ice Carving Festival with my family! hahaha! I got a kick out of that....and here I am again, racing my bike!

The crit was HELLA hard! I got caught up in a crash early on(I was fine and my teammates who were also in the crash were ok) so we went to the pit, got our free lap, jumped back into the race and went at it again.....sometime later and a couple of other crashes later, the race was over and I was thankful to be finished....OUCH!

That's when I realized how hard this race was gonna be, oh boy.....

The next day was a road race that ended up being cancelled due to weather! Crazy stuff!!! A lot of gals said this was a first for them and they've been racing for YEARS! It was a bit bizarre, so everyone packed up and headed home....

So back to a crit the next day, here we go again:) I started in a better position for this one, tried to get into a couple of breaks that didn't stick and BAM back on the back hanging on for dear life again....and again I made it till the end. I think my fingernails are hurting from hanging on for dear life;)

On Saturday, we had a road race(76miles) filled with steep, quick climbs. I CAN DO THIS! And I DID! :) I was with the main pack coming into the finishing circuits and I was sitting in a pretty good spot and I just couldn't hold it till the end but I was happy that I made that group to finish with.

Sunday was the day of HELL a.k.a. Stillwater...beautiful town but STEEP hills:) I still enjoyed the experience to be honest(is that sick?). I did my best to hang on but my legs were done for even though my head was still ready to rock, ugh...

FINISHED, next race please....Nationals!!! YAhooooo:) Headed to Bend, OR tomorrow with the rest of the gals, should be fun!!!