I just got home last night from the Tour of California. I had a wonderful week there with the team. It was a huge honor for me to get to be a part of the “host nation”. As the only American on our team this year, I was very proud to get to show the other girls and staff some beautiful places in the USA – and secretly so excited when they agreed that it was a great area.
The race was even more special for me because my family was able to attend. Both my parents and my older brother got the chance to see me race. Traveling so much for racing can be challenging – especially when the people that you care the most about are often distanced from it geographically. It was the first time that they had gotten to meet anyone on Wiggle, and so I was excited to get to show them faces to go with all of the people who they have heard about for the last year and a half!
My dad had rented a bike in some of the towns where we raced – and he even rode up the QOM’s the day before and gave me his recon report! Since my father is a scientist before he is a cyclist, they were very well thought out observations, down to the mailbox numbers where the climb started to level off.
I have to confess that I did not see the mailboxes in the race.
Overall, this felt like a huge success for our cause of women’s cycling as well. The race was well organized and riders seemed quite happy – and it was great to be paired with a men’s race to increase our visibility.
The best part of this month is that I don’t have to wait very long to see the Wiggle-HIgh5 crew back on American soil – Philly is the next World Tour race in just two weeks!!
