This weekend was the first US Cup of the season in Fontana, CA. Heading into the event, my record at this race was horrible: DNF in 2014, 16th in 2015 (I had to google that one) and another DNF in 2016.
It couldn't really get any worse that that haha.
Here’s how the race weekend went.
- 9PM Thursday: Flight cancelled.
- Change plans. Rent a car, David will drive me tomorrow (still too young to rent a car. Crap. Lucky me, I have the nicest boyfriend ever!)
- Friday: Drive with David from Tucson to Fontana.
- Arrive to the venue. Say hi to everyone. Receive 2 giant Oakley bags full of stuff. “Nice!”
- See Steve Blick. We chat, he gives me a bunch of sweet Oakley shades. “THANK YOU!”
- Get new bike. Thinking to myself: “This day is pretty amazing so far!”
- Set up new bike with Dave and Michel. “That bike is SICK!”
- Go ride a lap of the course. “That feels SO good!”
- Go ride a 2nd lap of the course. “This bike is just wonderful, it’s blowing my mind.”
- Get back to hotel. Quick shower. Head to dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory.
- Haley doesn’t know what Parmigiana means. Hannah is appalled.
- Quick grocery stop for breakfast.
Race Day:
- 5:20 AM wake up.
- Breakfast (Oatmeal with fruits, couple nuts, maple syrup, yogurt and coffee).
- Leave hotel. Drive to the venue.
- Blast to Jay-Z & Linkin Park’s Encore song. Andrea and Eva are not too impressed.
- Get dressed in the “porn van”. (Andrea calls it like that because it has a strip of light on the ceiling…). “I wonder how she knows about that?”
- Do warm up on course.
- Start!
- After 3 minutes… “Not feeling awesome. Hope it comes back.”
- Move up on pavement climb. I can catch everyone but Kate. Enter single track in 3rd behind Eva.
- Pass Eva. Before the descent, Rose Grant yells at me: “Come on Magh! Let’s fly down that descent!”
- “Okay, lets fly down!” Catch up to Kate.
- Clif teammates Andrea, Eva and Haley catch up to us. “Man this is cool. Haley is killing it!”
- Ride together for lap 2. Kate and Rose get away. Clif train stays together for lap 3. “Haley is killing it”.
- End of lap 3. Haley decides to lead the group and accelerates. “Haley is killing me now!”
- I get dropped. “Hang on to a good pace, stay relaxed Magh, you might catch them back.”
- Legs muscles are twitching. “Maybe I can just slow down until the end.”
- “Fuck this. Get that thought out of your mind Magh” “Just keep pushing - smooth and steady”.
- Last lap. Evelyn is catching up to me on the climb. “Stay cool, try to pin it in the descent.”
- Get a little gap on the descent. Hit the last flat section. Legs are on the verge of cramping.
- Evelyn passes me.
- Dave screams in French “you can win this battle!” I think “Not too sure about that.” Then I think again. “Let’s do this!!!”
- Take last corner really fast. Catch up to Evelyn. Arrive on loose gravel on her wheel. “Be smart Magh. Seated sprint to keep pressure on rear wheel.”
- 150m to go. SPRINT. Bike throw.
- Yes! Got it by 1cm. 6th place for me! Eva got 3rd, Andrea got 4th, Haley got 5th and Hannah had a killer last lap. Good day for the team!
Now it’s time to head to team camp for the next week and keep up with the work/rest so I can bring my fitness to where I want it to be.
Waldek played Lou Bega's Mambo No. 5 in the car today. Eva loved it a lot more than my Jay-Z song.
Cheers and I hope you will all have a great weekend with “a little bit of Sandra in the sun or a little bit of Mary all night long !”
Post race chit chat
