| Date/Location: | March 13th, 2016 – Zamora, CA |
| Distances: | 2 x 14loops |
| Place: | Cat 4, 17th |
| Teammates: | Trixie Bradley |
Rain, rain, rain today! The girls and I are driving to Zamora, Ca. The rain seems to be tapering off! Troy is racing now and I hope he's feeling good! We get to Bariani Olive Tree farm where race registration is but I decide to drive down the road a bit to hopefully see Troy finish his race. We park and I open the door to super windy conditions...wow, this is brutal!! After waiting for 30min, we don't see troy so I get ready to race. Another 10 min and still no Troy. I need to register so we'll have to miss it:/. We drive back down to registration.
I'm excited that Trixie Bradley is racing with me. I was hoping to warm up with her but got to wait for Troy. As I'm just about to jump on the trainer next to the car, there is Troy! It was a rough ride for him: getting dropped, fighting wind and a pulled hamstring. Even so he's still smiling and thanking Christ. His attitude always inspires me!
I ride to the start and find Trixie. The wind is whipping good and the rain is starting up. I'm not terribly pumped up to race especially after a long trail race and conditions. The course is rectangular which means some stretches we'll have the wind at our faces and others at our backs. We will do it twice. We roll out in "neutral" (or non-race mode). On the next turn, it's on!
We make the left right into the wind and rain. I find myself mid-pack and exposed to the elements. I get to the right side of another gal and get a break.
We turn right and head over an overpass. The wind is at our backs and girls start taking off. I hang on to the next turn. I hesitate too long here and loose the main pack. My attitude sours and I start to think negatively…"all alone now, why try?". At that moment I regroup with a few girls. Okay, thanks God for the reminder it's not over yet.
After a series of turns we have a good straight stretch. I can see a small pack of girls ahead. Hum, maybe we can catch them. Feeling hopeful!
We turn back into the wind/rain and it feels like we are climbing. We catch a girl and then reel in a few others along the way. Now it feels like a race! I try to conserve energy but put out some effort to share the load...otherwise the other riders will get upset.
We turn back towards the finish line. As we go through the finish and onto our second loop, I see Troy and the girls braving the conditions to cheer us on. One of the girls tries to get us organized taking turns pulling the pack from the front. We do get organized for a few miles. I try to encourage them by reminding them that once we turn at the overpass, we'll get a break from the wind. And maybe I should've kept that to myself because 3 of the girls, including the one who wanted us to work together, take off at the overpass. I'm able to hang on to the next turn and through the twisty part. I see Troy and the girls again at one of the turns. What a great boost!
Once the road straightens out again, the 3 girls put on a big surge and I'm unable to hang on... PING, like a button popping off! I see the other girls behind me and try to signal them to catch up. They seem toasted so I go it my own.
The 3 girls have made the turn back into the wind and I have confidence that I can catch them there like last time. I'm working to catch them but don't seem to be making any ground. Don't give up, it's not over yet. God please let me be able to catch them by the end.
The gap does narrow by a small margin going into the last turn to the finish. I've got 1.5 miles to catch them. I start to stand for 10 sec and sit for 10 sec. Slowly, I'm ganging on them. Up, down, up, down...keep going...have hope...Lord, please give me strength! I catch one of the girls! 
2 more. I am so tired I can no longer stand up. I put my head down and dig. Go, go, go! The finish is right there. I dig deep and just narrowly miss one of the girls. Thank you Lord! I was able to catch up, push hard and get some great experience today! Looking forward to Copperopolis. Trixie had a solid day...didn't go to plan entirely but she's eager to race Copperopolis next too.
