*** T hanks to Thai Airways team's facebook page for the following pictures!!
Serene....could be my daughter... but what a sweet girl!
Showing posts with label race. Show all posts
Showing posts with label race. Show all posts
Friday, May 6, 2011
Tour of Friendship 2011, Ladies Day 4 - Diggin' Deep!
Tour of Friendship, Ladies Day 3 - Complete Disaster!
This was MY stage....My stage to shine. The one I waited for, the one I trained for. This was the stage last year that gave me the time back I lost on the flat with a bike issue. This is a Tina Taiwan made for me stage!
I wasn't nervous at all.
But, I was a bit tired. It took quite some time to sort out our room situation. We ordered massages (actually hired about 8 girls from Bangkok to follow us around to get massages) and it took a considerable amount of time to get it situated. I didn't get my massage until 9:30pm... my legs were quite tired. I am not confident I had enough water to drink, nor the right 'recovery' stuff.
We were told we'd ride out with the Juniors and Masters. Someone must have complained because we were originally to ride out with the M40's again. I was looking forward to this as I knew the pack would be stable and slightly more conservative as they had 90km more then we did. There was a lot of wheel sucking to be done on the climb.
So, we take off with the Juniors and Masters. The Juniors surge.... fast/slow..... on/off... it just goes on and on and on... finally a good surge that lasts a respectible amount of time and a couple drop, two of the women and a couple of the old guys.
Thud....thud...thud... I look back....oh... my tire looks a bit ... 'fat'. NOT GOOD!
Its flat alright!
"Where's the neutral wheel guy?" AAUUGGHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Finally, he stops. Change out the wheel, and off I go. We were told the rules were that you get a push back to the group you fell out of, if you were in a group. I was.... but no push. He sped off before I could protest, but yelled quite loudly.
So, I try to overtake the riders who had fallen, maybe a group will form?
A few of the old guys are just hangin on.... one holds my wheel for quite some time.... then I say, "hey, we need to rotate here!" we do, he falls back for my turn and then he simply falls back.
I come up to one of my teammates. I thought she was waiting for me. But, as it was, she was just taking it her own pace and wished me luck.
I just bear down....hoping to catch a few on the hill.
I see the very back of the peloton, but guess what..... my wheel.... so I stop to look really quickly... (as it turned out, I eventually loose the break pad, so... ) The peloton is gone and up the hill. thinking we only had 6km to go, it was more lik 12km. Again...not entirely clear information!
My climb was pathetically slow.
The heat was unbearable. I was having pains in my chest and really wondered if I would be getting heat stroke. The water support was amazing, there was just nothing in me and I never, EVER felt so sick on a climb.
I climbed a full 4kph SLOWER then the year prior.
Finally making it to the top, I do pass one rider, and see the next. Thinking if I catch her, maybe a 5th place....I never do, but see her cross the finish line.
Her time: 2:22,
My time: 2:27,
The girl that I passed and watched her cross a few minutes after I finished: 2:27,
My Polar/Garmin time: 2:24...
hmmm......official times weren't even released until late that night.
Whatever....
I lost about 14 minutes on my GC, but still had a large enough time gap to keep 3rd if I didn't drop, flat, or crash tomorrow.
By this time, I was so upset with the flat, no push, no pull, bad timing, and having learned others were going to request MORE time be added to my time.... I felt really alone.
It was not a good race day.
I wasn't nervous at all.
But, I was a bit tired. It took quite some time to sort out our room situation. We ordered massages (actually hired about 8 girls from Bangkok to follow us around to get massages) and it took a considerable amount of time to get it situated. I didn't get my massage until 9:30pm... my legs were quite tired. I am not confident I had enough water to drink, nor the right 'recovery' stuff.
We were told we'd ride out with the Juniors and Masters. Someone must have complained because we were originally to ride out with the M40's again. I was looking forward to this as I knew the pack would be stable and slightly more conservative as they had 90km more then we did. There was a lot of wheel sucking to be done on the climb.
So, we take off with the Juniors and Masters. The Juniors surge.... fast/slow..... on/off... it just goes on and on and on... finally a good surge that lasts a respectible amount of time and a couple drop, two of the women and a couple of the old guys.
Thud....thud...thud... I look back....oh... my tire looks a bit ... 'fat'. NOT GOOD!
Its flat alright!
"Where's the neutral wheel guy?" AAUUGGHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Finally, he stops. Change out the wheel, and off I go. We were told the rules were that you get a push back to the group you fell out of, if you were in a group. I was.... but no push. He sped off before I could protest, but yelled quite loudly.
So, I try to overtake the riders who had fallen, maybe a group will form?
A few of the old guys are just hangin on.... one holds my wheel for quite some time.... then I say, "hey, we need to rotate here!" we do, he falls back for my turn and then he simply falls back.
I come up to one of my teammates. I thought she was waiting for me. But, as it was, she was just taking it her own pace and wished me luck.
I just bear down....hoping to catch a few on the hill.
I see the very back of the peloton, but guess what..... my wheel.... so I stop to look really quickly... (as it turned out, I eventually loose the break pad, so... ) The peloton is gone and up the hill. thinking we only had 6km to go, it was more lik 12km. Again...not entirely clear information!
My climb was pathetically slow.
The heat was unbearable. I was having pains in my chest and really wondered if I would be getting heat stroke. The water support was amazing, there was just nothing in me and I never, EVER felt so sick on a climb.
I climbed a full 4kph SLOWER then the year prior.
Finally making it to the top, I do pass one rider, and see the next. Thinking if I catch her, maybe a 5th place....I never do, but see her cross the finish line.
Her time: 2:22,
My time: 2:27,
The girl that I passed and watched her cross a few minutes after I finished: 2:27,
My Polar/Garmin time: 2:24...
hmmm......official times weren't even released until late that night.
Whatever....
I lost about 14 minutes on my GC, but still had a large enough time gap to keep 3rd if I didn't drop, flat, or crash tomorrow.
By this time, I was so upset with the flat, no push, no pull, bad timing, and having learned others were going to request MORE time be added to my time.... I felt really alone.
It was not a good race day.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Tour of Friendship, 2011
4 days racing,
Thunder and lightening, torential rains, slippery roads
Hot, hot, HOT Thailand weather....
2500m climbing
Only 395km riding
14,000 calories burned
new max heart rate: 191
Oldest woman in the peloton,
Malaysian pro team there...
3rd in the General Classification!
More later....
Thunder and lightening, torential rains, slippery roads
Hot, hot, HOT Thailand weather....
2500m climbing
Only 395km riding
14,000 calories burned
new max heart rate: 191
Oldest woman in the peloton,
Malaysian pro team there...
3rd in the General Classification!
More later....
Thursday, April 21, 2011
It's JUST a bike race, RIGHT?
So....why does it feel like the weight of the world? It is JUST a BIKE race. I am a 42 year old mother of two kids. My life consists of hours of algebra help, leaning 6th grade science, social studies, cooking dinner somewhat 'home style' in an Asian country. I am the PTA President and I have a job....
I ride a bike because it is fun.
I ride a bike because it is healthy, and after the third turn of the pedals.... I am near nirvana.... Its just THAT good! Its hard to explain unless you understand the 'high'.
So.... its JUST a bike race, right?
No... its justification, it's a race, and I am very competitive.... I analyze, study, learn, work... totally changed my training to training with a purpose. I have acheived levels thought impossible at my age and the complete suckiness of Ho Chi Minh City riding.
Getting really down about my climbing (or lack of) today I actually came home in tears from my ride. I intended to do 8 bridge laps with an average speed of 22.5kph for all 16 climbs together. I think it is very doable. Tuesdays 6 laps were 21.5kph and without too much intensity. Well, nine sets of intervals, so averages are not a good indicator.
Today's wind was NUCLEAR! It was depressing.... I could see it from the window. I knew there was no place on the bridge to hide. Its open over the Saigon River and today was the windiest day, EVER.
Completely demoralized after the ride..... came home in tears! Its been a long time. Didn't even want to look at the averages, because I didn't think there was any point.
Alex came with me.... he's quite the friend to ride with me (there is NO ONE HERE...and those that do ride... they don't seem to invite me....whatever... i give up! My schedule is pretty predictable...)
I was quite humiliated after the hills..... he told me where I was lacking strength (he's brutally honest - but if something is deserved, I get it)... but the damn wind.
I can't seem to stand the entire climb... I was quite shocked by this.... that's a back pocket trick...
The wind took a LOT out of me...
That said... I finally got up the nerve to download the data....
Guess what? Not the 22.5kph I wanted, but 21.6kph... much better then I thought. The average on the windy side was 19.9, the not windy side 23.3 (take that too thank you very much!)... the winds were not head/tail, but cross.... so the 'tail wind side' not as much of a struggle, but it was no tail wind.
So.... maybe I am not as weak as I thought....
Only 8 more days before I get on the plane, 9 before Stage 1 for the girls.
I ride a bike because it is fun.
I ride a bike because it is healthy, and after the third turn of the pedals.... I am near nirvana.... Its just THAT good! Its hard to explain unless you understand the 'high'.
So.... its JUST a bike race, right?
No... its justification, it's a race, and I am very competitive.... I analyze, study, learn, work... totally changed my training to training with a purpose. I have acheived levels thought impossible at my age and the complete suckiness of Ho Chi Minh City riding.
Getting really down about my climbing (or lack of) today I actually came home in tears from my ride. I intended to do 8 bridge laps with an average speed of 22.5kph for all 16 climbs together. I think it is very doable. Tuesdays 6 laps were 21.5kph and without too much intensity. Well, nine sets of intervals, so averages are not a good indicator.
Today's wind was NUCLEAR! It was depressing.... I could see it from the window. I knew there was no place on the bridge to hide. Its open over the Saigon River and today was the windiest day, EVER.
Completely demoralized after the ride..... came home in tears! Its been a long time. Didn't even want to look at the averages, because I didn't think there was any point.
Alex came with me.... he's quite the friend to ride with me (there is NO ONE HERE...and those that do ride... they don't seem to invite me....whatever... i give up! My schedule is pretty predictable...)
I was quite humiliated after the hills..... he told me where I was lacking strength (he's brutally honest - but if something is deserved, I get it)... but the damn wind.
I can't seem to stand the entire climb... I was quite shocked by this.... that's a back pocket trick...
The wind took a LOT out of me...
That said... I finally got up the nerve to download the data....
Guess what? Not the 22.5kph I wanted, but 21.6kph... much better then I thought. The average on the windy side was 19.9, the not windy side 23.3 (take that too thank you very much!)... the winds were not head/tail, but cross.... so the 'tail wind side' not as much of a struggle, but it was no tail wind.
So.... maybe I am not as weak as I thought....
Only 8 more days before I get on the plane, 9 before Stage 1 for the girls.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
CLB Xe Dap - Race
Didn't even contest this time... ha ha... The day before we had Family Day at school and we had over 1000 people. Originally, we thought we would have about 400, max... in the last two days we realized we would have over 1000.... we worked NON STOP for 3 days straight.
Fun to just go watch a race:
Fun to just go watch a race:
Go boys! Go Boys! GO BOYS! that's right boys, boys, boys, boys.... when I arrived, I asked Alex if Claudia and the kids were coming, "No, but you can stand next to the beer girls!"
Oh my cycling career has definitely gone...
backwards.... less then 1 year ago my breakaway at 2009 Giant Cup securing my #1 position for the racing year amongst the 80+ women who raced age 30+...
3rd year in a row winning the Giant Cup, curciut race...
to being BANNED....
well, actually this year they said I could join. too late... too exhausted... and with my 4 week periods, thyroid screwed up, just not in the mood....
No surprise they put Alex up front to bridget he gap... course was dangerous as it rained cats and dogs...
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