Crack-O-Rama at Jiminy Peak and Other News

Congratulations to those who rocked at Jiminy Peak - they got the last laugh and registered top results at one of New England's best road races, put on by my first team, the Berkshire Cycling Association. New England abounds in strong bike racers and new teams are out in full force - it's great to see! Hats of to Anthem-Blue Cross and to Team Terry for their aggressive racing and good results, even if Kate's red shoe covers did not zip across the finish line in top form. I woke up fighting off sickness, and to be honest struggling with exactly the point of the race - was it to be calculating and ride for a result or to attack-attack and get in some good training? When I know there are big races going on that I am missing - the Crit Series and Tour of the Gila - I can get impatient, conscious of training I am not doing. Nina did a great job, which was the highlight of the day. Hiroko and I did not play our cards right. This would be a tough race for us regardless but we didn't do it right. Best would have been to drive it up the hills (at least the finish hill on lap 1), make people work a bit (including us!), chill out on flats, know that a hard race benefits us but not take it exclusively upon ourselves to create it. Hiroko and I botched the finish something awful, both going way too early and blowing to pieces. Worst though was my attitude. I was very frustrated with what I saw as lack of aggressive racing. I haven't had so little fun in a bike race in a long time. But as I said, I didn't even finish in the top ten so someone else clearly had the last laugh. When I yell at idiot cars on the road, I have come to recognize that something is not quite right in me to be this irritable, and the same thing goes for my frustration with the bike race. Not to make excuses but being overtired, fighting sickness, and being a bit stressed with school seemed to contribute to a negative approach. I was really in rare form as a torrent of malcontent. I owe a HUGE APOLOGY to a lot of people.
In other news: My teammate Robina Farina made the winning break of the final race of the Crit Series and finished 4th - super job! Racers came out of the woodwork and Yale won the Ivy League Title for the second year in a row. I am sending them my legs for Nationals this weekend. Fred Drier of VeloNews, who rocks, referred to Tour of the Gila, my favorite sufferfest, as a battle of "the best of the rest" - ah hello!!?? There might be only 48 riders in the field but those racers are TOPS. Congrats to Mara Abbot! Power to collegiate racing, regional racing, and domestic (women's at least) racing, where we have purity of sport and cheating is the gross exception not the rule. Don't ruin our sport, lying dopers. Ok, I am taking an exam at 9am, then flying to Arkansas for Joe Martin!