Day 2 began at O’ Dark Hundred. Ugg. My youngest decided that this was the night to cry on the hour every hour all night long. For some unknown reason. I should have been up at 4:30 Am to get to the event at 5:30Am, however, on 2 hours of sleep total, I didn’t get there until 6:40AM. And, I had bagel duty. Thankfully, Stell’s Coffee shop provided the first batch of bagels and coffee for the ladies so nobody was starving when I got there!
On the bike at 7am with a pep talk about the plans for the day; pacelining, crit practice, crit starts, and lots of other skills we need like CORNERING.
The Organizers from Left to Right: Wendy, Gina (Wines of Washington), Izette, and Tricia (Group Health)
1st Lesson: USE YOUR BUTT TO CORNER
The teams had set out tennis balls cut in half and the idea was to learn how to use your butt to corner. Not the front wheel. Not the handlebars, but our weight! I have never heard this concept before, but, when applied to crits and corners, it makes sense. Put weight on the outside hip to manuever around a corner. Something that will take me some time to practice, it’s a great skill to have!
Lesson 2: Crit Race Starts!
Can I just say, ugg!! The idea is on the whistle, you better be ready. Hands in drops, standing up, and get your foot in the pedal as soon as humanly possible. Tricia wanted us to be in the first corner FIRST. Basically, sprint your butt off from the start. Get in a good position so that you may have a good position in the race from the gun. This is hard to do, people. If you want to practice at home, from a stop light, get ready to sprint HARD to the first stoplight. Do it everytime you hit a light on 2-3 rides and you’ll be ready! I need to practice this A LOT.
Lesson 3: Criterium Practice and Racing
Learn how to race a crit. Learn when to attack, when to counter-attack, and where to be in a crit. All stuff I know, but, don’t always practice! As you’ve seen from prior races, I get bored and/or frustrated and attack only to kill myself for no reason… Live and learn!
The afternoon sessions included lectures on Nutrition, Core work, Strategies for Bike Races, and Bike Maintenance. And, finally, to complete the day, there was a Q and A period and a special guest made an appearance: Amber Neben. I just read her blog and she just recently had a nasty crash in Italy during her Giro di Italia for women. Yikes. Go read. Anyway, she crashed on the 15th and is now back in the states recovering from it and decided to drive out to Redlands and talk to all the women at the clinic!
I’ve talked with several of my friends who came to the clinic, and all really loved it. At first, I got the comment, “well, I can blow her away on the road.” and my comment back to her was that this wasn’t about fitness- it’s about skill. She and lots of others found new ways to travel safely while on a bike, fuel themselves correctly, and enjoy lots of other women who love the same things!
Article in the Redlands Daily Facts
3 responses so far ↓
1 ttfn300 // Jul 28, 2009 at 8:55 pm
wow, so wish i lived closer
sounds like a fantastic experience!
2 Chad // Jul 28, 2009 at 11:42 pm
I am running in a 5K called Best of the Boardrooms in August. The organization that puts it on is called Healthiest Executive. They also have a not-for-profit organization called Go Healthy Pals.
This was created to fight a growing problem in America today; childhood obesity. They evidently give children micro-grants to make a difference health-wise in their school. This is a big reason why I chose to run in this race because someone actually has enough guts to come out and say there is a problem.
3 Mike | Walk in clinic // Dec 28, 2010 at 1:29 pm
I like this type of clinic.Because its only for women.Night riding is too hard.
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