So I’ve been informed that if I become an uber successful blogger,  I may be able to get my very own Clean Bottles so here we go:

This past weekend was the inaugural race of the season: the Cherry Pie Crit in Napa, CA. For those of you who don’t know, this race is about a mile long and exhibits windy sections, a chicane, a 180 degree turn, and a nasty little kicker to the finishing sprint. All of the local top guns come out to test their fitness outside of zone 2 and to judge who’s been hitting the cookie jar a little too hard over the off-season (thankfully, however, most people are still in their last year’s kits which have by now stretched appropriately).

Before the race, I stayed at my teammate Starla Teddergreen’s house in Mill Valley, CA. As a naïve Midwesterner succumbing to the lure of California, Mill Valley is what I imagined California was going to be like. The sun, the Bay, the farmers’ markets, the rich folk. But instead, I’m stuck in San Jose (aka San Francisco’s idiot step-brother). In Mill Valley, we even wistfully rode singlespeeds (so cali.) to ‘downtown’ where at one point I was spinning 200 rpm just to keep up with the tandem that Gino and Starla were on. Perfect leg-openers for the proceeding day’s race.

Meet the first Manderkitten, Gino Zahnd, CEO extraordinaire. Star- he’s a keeper!!!

The next day, a few hours before the Cherry Pie race, I went on a really intense ride to the coffee shop and back with Gino, Starla, and Cal-Giant’s Rand Miller. All of about 30 minutes total, which included stops for flats, chats with cross nemeses, and even time for a little “Brokebike mountain”<Winner of Caption contest> action as well.

“Berries and Cream” may also suffice.

Onward to Napa, after warming up dancing seizing before the race, I lined up to the start/finish where I tried to put on my toughest face to intimidate the other teams.

Alright, fine – I need Starla to give me a little Edgy 101.

Exhibit A:

^Eek! If that glare doesn’t make you pee your pants a little then I don’t know what will.

Anyway, like I was saying, on to the actual race. Now, I’m not a pie girl myself, but to win a pie makes winning so much sweeter (cute, right?). For weeks, I’d been cleaning every fork in my kitchen for this race because I knew we had it in the bag as the pre-race sensations were pleasing.

VICTORY! While ladies were trying to steal our thunder left and right, VK rose to the occasion with the big W. I like how in the norcalcyclingnews article, I’ve been completely deleted from Ruth’s very own words to the interviewer. Obviously ‘imager’ wasn’t in the race because if he had been, he’d have known that I was ripping legs off the last 1 km (after taking the reigns from VDizzle) to provide an epic leadout for Ruth (i.e. Ruth won).

^Look at the fierce look in Ruth’s eyes. Don’t mess with the best. Top gun this one.

This is basically how it went down in the final 150 meters:

Word to photographers: can’t y’all spread out a little? While it’s awesome that there are 100 pictures of the Start/Finish line (as there should be), those of us who will never win a field sprint to save our lives would like a little love on the backside of the course. C’mon! There’s 700 meters each lap that you don’t even witness, and in those 700 meters, I’m killing it (honest, I am!)!! Like this (different race, same jist):

*Take-home message* Give the attention whores the due respect they deserve! (and if not respect, then at least more pictures)

Til next time…