The "A Team": Fun Times In Visalia/Exeter

Sequoia Cycling Classic

Visalia, CA—March 18-19

By Catherine Powers

Refreshed from a day of recovery rides and shopping, Sarah, Rebecca and I piled into Felicia’s car for the trip to Exeter. We were up to our usual antics and made the car ride interesting with our fascinating J-lo hand puppet impersonations among other routines. My nose and lungs could tell when we were approaching Exeter as they were assaulted by the pollen from the blooming fruit trees.

We arrived at the McCauley’s house and were greeted by his son Andrew who cheerfully showed us around and offered up his room. Shortly thereafter our host Mayor Ted arrived and after making sure we were well taken care of, he headed out to complete his own grueling training regimen (not only is this man the Mayor of Exeter, he also sells insurance and somehow finds time to train for the Exeter Time Trial!). Later that evening we met Janice McCauley and were treated to delicious hamburgers.

We spent the week training in the gorgeous green hills around Exeter, waving to the cows along the way. I was convinced I was sick, since I don’t usually suffer from allergies but after the 3^rd day Coach Carmen made me suck it up and train. We rode the time trial course several times and I tried to master those scary downhill turns while Sarah did her first intervals of the season. We got to finish our rides by soaking our legs in the still-frigid pool at the McCauley’s and then relaxing in front of the television with Andrew.

On Thursday, Sarah and I got to ride with a group of local Exeter cyclists (including Ted) which was fun until some of the women dropped us on the hill! Later that evening, Kat Carroll arrived so we were able to add a few new jokes to our repertoire (some of the old ones were starting to wear thin).

From Friday on it was all business. Friday morning we attended the sponsor breakfast in Exeter where we were treated to pastries, espresso, eggs and coffee courtesy of the Wildflower Café. We enjoyed fraternizing with our friends from other teams and hearing Mayor Ted give a great speech.
We were thrilled to see that Kathy Reed, Velonews’ new crack reporter would be reporting on our race since that means the women’s race will get full and in-depth coverage. And we were also happy to meet Sheri Clark, who worked so hard to get us a PRIZE LIST EQUAL TO THE MEN’S. After breakfast, we headed up over Rocky Hill with sponsors, community members and other riders. Then it was home to shower and change for school visits. Janice had invited us to Rocky Hill Elementary School where she is a librarian. Sarah and I were greeted by a large crowd of charming, eager children who had lots of great questions about cycling like “What do you do when you have to go to the bathroom while you’re riding?” and “What happens when you get really tired?” After the question and answer period, I got to read a story to them about Norma Jean the Bicycle Queen. Then we headed over to the Heart after school program at Lincoln Elementary School where we met our teammates Kat, Rebecca and the newly arrived Carmen Small-McNellis.
We gave another presentation, explaining how our bikes work and stressing the importance of wearing a helmet. These children were younger, so their questions were more amusing: “Are you a boy or a girl?” and “Do you get scared?” and “My dad has a bike.” and “Who is Aaron?”

Friday night we fueled up on lasagna and went to bed, dreaming of the time trial. Saturday morning the mood was very serious in the house. Everyone was focusing, preparing mentally for the hard effort ahead. Everyone that is, except for Sarah. Somehow Sarah managed to get exempted from the time trial so she was in a very chipper mood. We ignored her studiously.

Since I had the earliest start time of any of us, I headed out first and met Carmen and Sarah in the parking lot outside Exeter High School, where they had set up a tent and chairs and trainers for us. I warmed up on the road, trying to get more comfortable on my still-new time trial bike. After some hard efforts and many trips to the porta-potty I was ready to go. I lined up behind Kirsten Robbins and listened to Dave Towle give his always-stellar performance on the P.A. system (lately, he has favored analogies to space travel). When it was my turn to start I went hard off the line and watched my heart rate climb and climb. On the hill, I got worried and backed off a bit but I realized later that the heat was making my heart rate faster than normal. I flew down the other side, terrified in my aero bars. In the sharp right turn at the bottom I slammed on my brakes, nervous about the bad pavement and not trusting my time trial bike. My caution on the turns cost me some time, but my mother assures me I did the right thing. The rest of the ride was a world of pain. I was passed by two women and passed three myself; my throat was dry, my lungs heaving, my legs aching. But before I knew it, I was headed down the hill again, flying towards the finish.
It was a tough day out there for all of us but my teammates put in some great rides. Kat got 6^th, Felicia got 8^th and Rebecca got 15^th. We were happy that our team put in such a solid performance. The field this year was very strong, attracted by the $10,000 prize list. We headed home to recover for the next day’s criterium. We were thrilled to hear that our host Ted had also had a good ride in his time trial. He finished ahead of both of his buddies and kept the rubber side down.

The morning of the criterium, Rebecca was in fine form. She was brimming with energy, humming a little tune for her teammates. As it turned out, this was a sign that she was going to have a very good race. We all rode to Visalia from Exeter, getting in a nice warm-up. We met Felicia in Visalia and pre-rode the course after our team meeting. Sarah and I were recruited to be the lead and follow riders for the kids’ race. That was an excellent warm-up for me as the 11 year-old behind me pushed the pace and I had to ride tempo to stay ahead of him. Sarah, on the other hand, almost got taken out by a falling rider in the back of the field.

And then it was time to race. Our strategy was to be aggressive after the first third of the race but we didn’t need to do that, since T-Mobile started sending off attacks right away. The race was fast and many short-lived breaks formed ahead of the field, with Aaron’s represented in all of them. Rebecca and Felicia were especially active while Sarah made sure she got in the moves that looked dangerous. We took three cash primes and definitely made our presence known throughout the race. With 5 laps to go, the officials made a mistake. They briefly flashed 2 laps to go on the lap counter, before changing it to 5. Some of the sprinters, including the T-Mobile squad, our own Sarah Caravella and Colavita’s Mackenzie Dickey saw 2 to go and never looked back. The pace got higher and higher and with 3 laps to go some riders were sprinting for the line. Fortunately for us, Rebecca was still in good position. With Sarah tired from her all-out effort, Rebecca took over and sprinted for the finish, landing an impressive 3^rd place spot on the podium. Nice work Rebecca!!!

It was great to get a chance to race for the first time with Carmen McNellis this weekend and the team is looking forward to taking it up a notch next week at Redlands. Thanks again to our awesome hosts the McCauley family and to the promoters of the Sequoia Cycling Classic for putting on an excellent race!