California + Devo Spring Classic Stage Race

So, time to re-cap the last month! Over Spring Break my family and I drove down to California (for vacation and to ride). It made for a great father- daughter, mother- daughter training camp! I got my first ride in heading out of Santa Cruz. My dad and I were supposed to be picked up by the rest of the gang who were coming a few hours behind us, but, of course, they couldn't find us, so we were left out in the sun to burn our first day in Cali. Turned into a great tan later on, though. We then drove down through Santa Barbara. Didn't get a chance to ride then as we were only there for a day and had family to visit. Although, once we got to Laguna Beach, we got some good, long rides out along the beach, which was just gorgeous. It was soo nice to just get up and go out in a jersey and shorts in the morning, and still be warm!

Our last leg of the journey was 5 days in Palm Springs where I couldn't stop gawking at the canyons as we rode! My favorite ride out there was probably Box Canyon. It is just so beautiful, and the riding is really cool, as the ride out with a head wind was so slow (also because it was a false uphill) and we just flew coming back! All in all, it was an awesome trip that I can't wait to do again!

So... the night we came back, I had to get on the rollers and spin out for the Devo Spring Classic Stage Race the next day (My legs were a little stiff after spending two 14 hour days in the car). This was my first race back after my appendicitis and I was really stoked.

I was happy with my performance in the crit the first day! The cat 3/4 woman were lumped in with the 1/2/3 woman, so it made for a good, harder pace and a great learning experience! After getting dropped early on, Morgan Cabot came back and pulled me back up to the group! (Thanks soo much Morgan! :-) I then lasted until 15 minutes to go before getting dropped a second time. It was really good for me to feel what that kind of speed feels like again.

The time trial later that afternoon went well, but hurt like... yeah! Anyway, despite being passed by many other riders (which encouraged me to ride even harder) I felt really consistent and am happy with my first tt back, especially due to the fact that tt's haven't been my strongest race in the past.

The road race kept pretty tame the first few laps (besides the accelerations on Snake hill- ouch!) Finally, after setting the pace at the front on the hill, an attack was initiated and I just couldn't hang on. Alison Jackson and I finished off the three last laps at a good pace, ending with a sprint at the finish!

Thanks to everyone who made this race awesome! Also thanks to Local Ride Racing, Kicking Horse Coffee, Golden Ears Physio, Giant Bicycles and Cycles Lambert for all the support!

Devo Classic Stage Race
Photo by: Paul Craig
Racing the Devo Classic Stage Race with one of my "big sisters," Jasmin GlaesserPhoto by: Paul Craig


Hill repeats up Highway 74 in Palm Springs




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