Wow what a weekend. Between the two of us it went something like this: Saturday:

Terry plays soccer game in Monterey (1-0 win); Beth goes to the Ride the World Cup Fundraiser at Hellyer (just watching and eating yummy goodies); Terry coaches U-12 soccer game in Sunnyvale (tied 2-2); Beth picks up Terry in Sunnyvale and then off to Sierra Point for night 'cross race (B win); get home at 11:30; go to bed.

Sunday:

Beth goes to CCCX #4 (B win again); Terry plays soccer game (5-1 win); Chipotle; homework; and hopefully sleep here in a few minutes.

So here's the quick and dirty on the race reporting before I fall asleep...

Saturday night I raced my first-ever BASP series race up in San Francisco. It was also my first-ever night. Really the only reason that I went all the way up to SF to race is because this was a night race and I thought it would be cool...and it definitely was! We raced around what really seemed more like a BMX track with all the bumpiness and short, steep pop-up hills next to the marina at Sierra Point. They brought in a ton of flood lights to light it up almost like day time. The laps were really short and pretty much all power. I got a great start off the line (the track pays off again!) and bunny-hopped the first curb in the lead and held it for the rest of the race. But the race was certainly not without incident! Coming around to finish the first lap someone had a huge husky on a leash next to the course and was trying to drag the dog off the edge of the road, but the dog didn't want to go. So I'm flying up the pavement with Niki B right behind me when the leash snaps! The dog is now loose and doesn't know where to go, so I do my best evasive maneuver and slid to the side, narrowly avoid a pile-up with the very large dog...poor Niki behind me had to lock the brakes up to avoid collision. Dang! Then with about 4 laps to go I was cruising around the course, settling in to the pace I wanted to maintain the rest of the way. There was a 180-degree turn from asphalt to dirt that was getting a littler looser each lap. Well, I came in a little faster than normal I guess and started to slide out. I was able to get my left foot out in time for a quick dab, but not before I smacked my knee on the end of my handle bar. OUCH! For a few pedal strokes I was thinking, damn this really hurts, but I knew it was just a bruise so I bit my lip and kept on going. Afterwards I finally took a look at it and realized I'd smacked it hard enough to actually get a nice little cut and a big ass bruise right on my knee-cap. It didn't affect me too much during the race. So that was the excitement of the race. It was really fun and I felt so good riding...I would get these little surges of energy and somehow pull a little more power out of my legs. I was really surprised to have won; I was really nervous before the race with so many fast looking girls lined up...there were 12 or 13 there I think. It really helped that we had a great Bella cheering section there helping us along. And that the weather was so nice! Here's the requisite podium shot:

Today was the 4th installment of the local CCCX series held on the Happy Trails behind the DoD Center. I loooove that single track in there - its fast and swoopy and racing on it is so much fun. Unfortunately I think a lot of folks didn't come out to race today after racing up in the city the night before so the fields were really small. There were only four of us in the B's, maybe six A's, and not many more than that in the Master's women's categories. And fellow Bella Michelle Perez was the lone C racer - another win for her keeps her in the series lead! And Amy Abele picked up a second place finish in the Master's race despite a little spill on the course. As for me, I was excited to be at a 'cross race but wasn't feeling too keen on racing. I didn't feel tired but I certainly didn't feel zippy. Rod decided to line us all up together at the start rather than starting us in waves by category since all the fields were so small, so I got to line up and start right with the A's. I was thinking, hey, this is a great opportunity to see if I can hang with the A's...and the answer to that was a resounding NO! I lined up behind Bev Chaney knowing that with her mountain biking background she'd get clipped in and off the line fast and she didn't let me down! But then we started up the first climb and I yo-yo'd of the back a bit and that was pretty much the last I saw of the A's with the exception of a few glimpses here and there. That's a level I'm not ready for quite yet! So I was basically solo for the rest of the race, rather uneventful until the start of the final lap. There was a tricky transition from a fast pavement section into a slightly off-camper singletrack that was super hardpacked with a nice layer of slippery sandy/pebbley non-sense on top. I'd ridden it the first three laps without incident. On the last lap I just wanted to ride nice and conservatively, so I slowed down for the transition...and slid right out. Somehow I re-smacked my knee that I'd smacked the night before I something and smacked my hip on the ground. Ouch. I popped back up mainly because I'm always really embarrassed when I crash and hopped back on, all the while very concerned as to whether or not I'd ripped a hole in my brand new skinsuit. Then just up the trail was a barrier section...getting off and trying to run made the knee hurt a lot, but I got back on and kept going...pedalling helped loosen it up and the rest of the lap went down without incident, though I'm sure at a much slower pace. And I crossed the finish line to find that my skinsuit was not torn...phew! So I won and got a nice fat box of CalGiant strawberries! Yummy yummy!

Enough rambling for now...it was a lovely though quite tiring weekend. Now its time for bed.