Valley of the Sun Stage Race

The Ladies of Flatlandia,minus Molly:(
Leah, Kim and I just returned from a successful race and training camp in AZ. We raced the Valley of the Sun Stage race, which was a time trial, a road race, and a crit, and then stayed on a couple extra days to get some miles in. We were hosted by the wonderful Hulburd family and had a fabulous time. The weather was gorgeous every single day and even the locals were remarking how nice it was.


For VOS, I raced the 1/2's, Leah raced the 3's and Kim raced the 4's. I was really happy with my race with the exception of the time trial. The time trial was 14 miles and flat. I gave it my best and rode as hard as I could but finished 28th out of 38 starters, a couple minutes down. Not exactly a surprise, but I was still hoping for a more competitive time.

The Road Race was 58 miles and included 4 times up a 12 minute gradual climb. I felt great! The climb felt like no big deal and I was able to go with all the attacks. Colovita had some numbers there as well as a couple of AZ and CA teams. Nothing stuck because it seemed except for the climb, the rest of the race was downhill. The finish was at the top of the climb and I was in great position....until 200 meters to go, and then had no sprint. I was very happy with this result. Kim also had a great day here and finished third in her race!

The next day was the crit. A lovely downtown figure 8 course lined with palm trees. I felt just fine and was able to move around and go for some primes (only to get nipped at the line!) and I finished in the field. I'm not currently training my top end speed right now, so I was very pleased with how that went. I also felt a night and day difference with my confidence in the corners. Probably something to do with ending my season last year on a positive note, unlike the year before, when I ended my season with a serious crash. I moved up a couple spots in the GC, but the goal of the race was training, and great training I got!
The best thing about the crit was watching my cat 3 teammate Leah (they combined our fields) ride around looking completely at ease. She ended up on the podium today!

We then stuck around for a couple of days and got some fabulous riding in.

We had a blast and enjoyed every sunny moment.

This picture pretty much sums up the trip for me :)



As good as it is to get away, it is always great to get home and see the family. Here's Sidney helping me put my bike back together.Every year it's such a relief to get the first race of the year out of the way successfully. I am always appreciative to the people at PWP for helping me get through all those hours on the trainer that makes having good fitness this time of year possible. Thanks!