Que Paso?

Today's 3/4 field at Merco felt sketchier than anything I've done before. It felt like a lot of negative racing with around 10 of us who were willing to work and around 40 others who were content in the peanut gallery, spread every which way along the road. Those of you who were there, correct me if I'm wrong, but all the mid-race conversations I had seemed to assure me that I wasn't the only one who thought this.

But, among our blogger community, I have a lot to be thankful for today, so here's my top 10:

10) To Andrea for getting the ice cream bar at the gas station which inspired Mike and I to do the same.

9) To Mike for loading the cases of Metromint in the car which came in handy at the impromptu EMC/Metromint/Left Coast Quizmo's post-race gathering.

8) To Deb for looking out for our safety and encouraging me to help her stretch the pack out early on in lap 1.

7) To Erica and Linda for inspiring me by racing with the 45+ men.

6) To Sabine for her wise 411 on the important course features, keeping us on our toes by attacking several times, and for joining in my suffering up the climb on the last lap. You were amazing.

5) To Heather, for finding me before every crucial part of the course on the first lap so I'd know what was coming up.

4) To Vera for twice attacking before the corners which gave me a fast, safe wheel around the turns.

3) To Mike for being willing to go out for ice cream twice today.

2) I'm thankful that the Bella who went down next to me with 200m to go is ok. Who was she? Let me know how she's doing.

1) And most of all, I'm thankful to have stayed safe in what felt like stop & go rush hour traffic.

I'm upgrading this week (!!) and could definitely use some lessons in how to stay near the front without spending too much time on the front. I worked hard today...in the end, too hard as I couldn't quite hang onto the deciding split a few rollers before the finish. But I was among the top 5 wheels for virtually the entire race (of course, it's only the end which matters). It was hard work to stay there, but the rest of the pack simply felt too sketchy for me. I need to learn to be more efficient up there as I covered one too many surges and had nothing left in at the end. It was a good learning experience and I'm looking forward to Zamora.

Words of wisdom???