http://The Great Race 2010

Andreas Kloeden, Alexandre Vinokourov, Frank Schleck ( the day he crashed and I crashed) Mark Krenshaw ( the day after he was ejected and the day I knew would be for me, a head butting kind of day).

Each morning before I ride to work and after getting up at five in the morning to watch the Tour de France, whether he wants to know or not, I tell Ron who I will be on that day. letour.fr/us/index.html

This morning as Ron is on his way out the door at five thirtyish, he turns around as if he just remembered something and asks “so who are you today honey?” He laughs, he always laughs at his Pippi Longstocking’s wife with the overly amped imagination.

Already wound up with excitement and too much caffeine I tell him, “Mark Cavendish, today I am Mark Cavendish. I am going to save it all for the wild sprint at the end and then turn it on like you can’t even imagine. It will all come down to the guy with the aero helmet, the skin suit, the Zipp wheels and me. It will be a screaming, chaotic, frenzied finish and I will nail it, a human mis-sile (as Phil Ligett would say) shot from a canon.”

markcavendish.co.uk/

Yeah right! Well one can dream for sure.

My husband smiles that God help me where did I find you kind of smile, rolls his eyes and tells me “good luck silly” and then we’re off. He to go work a couple hundred head of steers out at the ranch and me to do the cycling stage of the Great Race.

The Great Race which used to be referred to as Eppie’s Great Race is a unique home town event consisting of participants competing individually and on numerous teams. It takes place along the gorgeous American River parkway and has developed quite a following over the years. thegreatrace.org

At breakfast after the race it was great to hear both Julie and Eric, each who did all three stages of the race, the run, the ride and the kayak, declare it as one of the best races they have participated in. A really fun event filled kind of day.

Today once again, I got to be the cyclists on a team with my son Joe who did the kayak portion and friend Alan who ran the run. Our other team of fast guys, Dale with the run, Craig on the bike and Jeff in the Kayak, all from Lucca and Roxy are so good, I can imagine them being just thrilling to watch.

Mark Cavendish aside, truly this race is about fun and safety first, not in thinking you are someone you are not or participating at a level beyond your ability. What makes it interesting every year to me from a relay perspective is that you get thrown into the mix with some pretty fierce, top local competitive athletes and those that ride, run or kayak solely on an infrequent and recreational basis. With that kind of menagerie, some crazy dangerous accidents can and do happen. One guy today sadly enough was down in the middle of the trail when I rode by with EMT people already there performing CPR. I heard later he had a heart attack while riding. Down the trail further I passed another guy being helped half buried in dust, ashen gray and covered in blood.

I try to convey to our team to ride, run, swim, kayak, perform at your own level so that you do not hurt yourself or anyone else. Truly no one besides one’s self, by the time all is said and done usually remembers or even cares all that much how many seconds or minutes it took to get to that finish line. Racing at this level is meant to be first and foremost cause for a good time. I know when the adrenaline builds to various degrees, a good old heart pounding, keen eyed, crazy competitive sense rises in the best of us or the worst of us. Yet racing at our level anyway should never get so out of hand that one’s health or safety are compromised.

Among the highest level of professionals and among the truly gifted athletic, be it Lance Armstrong riding the tour or my son Luke going over Mt. Palomar on his training ride today or Karyn Hoffman doing her ultra runs, all consider every factor, analyze and think through well before hand how best to adhere to and maintain a successful and often times winning performance well within their capability.

Hydration and nutrition, past injury and daily recovery, equipment, the course and even a daily physical and mental analysis are all vastly important in determining their own unique ability and the realm of performance that they will expect to operate within, on any given day.

So no you shouldn’t or rather I shouldn’t think I am Mark Cavendish - or maybe only when no one is looking. Just kidding -truly I am an overly safe rider, nothing like breaking something badly and painfully, to make one so right away.

So with that, here is a little trifle of race wisdom for next week’s race when it may be close to 100 degrees out on the course.

Race smart. Race well. Race happy.

Congratulations to Julie, Eric and Leann for becoming Great Race Ironmen and our relay Team Lucca people, Joe, Jeff, Craig, Dale, Alan and Megan. So wonderful to see those brown jerseys flying along the trail in every direction this morning.

Thank you Emily, Andy, Dan and Becky and the numerous people I heard yell “Go Team Lucca’ along the way.

Finally, with pro cycling still on the mind, one of the guys at work recently asked me who my favorite pro cycling team really is – Team Radioshack? Columbia HTC? BMC? Team Saxo Bank?

Beyond a doubt, Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY12. A professional group of women cyclists, founded by Nicola Cranmer. I got to see some of them in action at the Tour of California. You can find them on facebook. They are incredible and an inspiration to all women cyclists.

teamtwenty12.com

Hope to see many of you next weekend. Alzheimer’s Aid Race. Saturday morning, fun times running.