Race Report: CBR Women cat 4

Race: CBR Dominguez Hills
Category: Women IV
Raced: Kendall Seyer

After a long rainy week in LA, all I wanted to do with my weekend was get outdoors and take advantage of living in a place with year-round summertime. Saturday: Went to Training Camp to greet our awesome U25 men and women... and awesome O25s too, including the majority of the Women's Team. After enjoying great company, delicious food, a nice cold Sierra Nevada and kicking butt in Password (yeah that's right, I won), I drove back home to get a little shut eye before... Sunday: RACE DAY! I suited up and grabbed my bike while my neighbors headed off to the beach...

Neighbors: Hey bike lady, you wanna join us?
Kendall: Beach?! Pffff... whatever! It's the first race of the season!!!
Neighbors: Where you ridin'? Beach path?
Kendall: Dominguez Hills.
Neighbors: SILENCE... BLANK STARES...
Kendall: Carson?... (more blank stares). About 20 miles south... (nothing). Near Ikea.
Neighbors: Ohhhh, Ikea!

They think I'm nuts for wearing lycra in public, so I decided to not try and explain why I would rather spend my Sunday under the sunshine and clear skies of an industrial park 20 miles down the freeway. I packed up my bike and headed off. "Good luck racing Ikea, crazy bike lady!"

At Dom Hills, we Cat 4 Women start racing one minute after the 1, 2, 3 Women. Do the guys EVER do that? This was the biggest field I've ever seen in a Cat 4 race-- about 15. We were off to a damn good start-- we passed the 1, 2, 3's! Uhhhhh, aren't THEY supposed to be passing US? A little excitement with a blown tire at the front of the pack on turn 2. But disaster averted. Relatively uneventful after that. Honestly, I'm still new to this. My strategy was chug Prolong, try to follow Casey and Lauren's advice (thank you!!!!!), don't look at my HR monitor (I actually did peek-- it was freakin' high!), try to find a steady wheel and stick on it, HTFU and just ride my bloody bike as fast as I possibly can. So that's what I did, for 30 minutes. And then I happily crossed the Finish Line. Welcome to the 2010 race season ladies and gentlemen!!!

P.S. My neighbors came home with sunburn and indigestion from greasy food.