A trip to Fresno to visit family was in order for Memorial Day, so why not combine it with a few races? I set off solo at the break of dawn on Saturday to race the Granville Homes Circuit Race and Ventana Wall Hill Climb TT, followed by the Budweiser Sequoia Crit on Sunday. It promised to be a hot weekend of fun and a convenient excuse for missing Hamilton!
There was a small field for the 50-min circuit race - which did laps around a gated community and included a hill and a kicker - and I was pretty sure it would come down to some combo of me and the strong Folsom duo of Melanie and Judy. On the third lap it was time to make something happen, so I attacked hard up the short climb and immediately had a gap. I saw Judy coming along, and then Felicia from Pinnacle, but no Melanie. Good, I didn't want a 2 on 1 situation with both Folsom women. Judy and I worked together for the next many laps, eventually dropping Felicia. On the last lap I put in several digs but Judy stuck to my wheel. My tactical error was allowing her to play me and sprint around me at the finish.
The Ventana Wall TT was a short one, just 2k, with the whole first km a rolling lead-in. Feeling fresh with my sports bra packed with ice, it was a quick 4:30 effort for the win.
Sunday afternoon saw temps in the mid-90s and that familiar feeling of a Valley summer. Hey, I grew up in this, it's in my bones! The crit was 60 mins and I went through my 2 bottles and was still wishing for more. About 15 mins in, I got in a 4-woman break. We lapped the field and then sat in with the group (mistake!) and then looked at each other for lots of laps and did a field sprint. That situation isn't ideal for me; I ended up 4th on the day and 2nd overall in the omnium, with a good chunk of change in my pocket and a lot of lessons learned.
