The start of my 2009 season has been pretty solid. I first did a small, local road race in Murrieta, California on March 15th to get a little race warm-up before the real racing begins. I placed 2nd behind Dotsie Bausch, of Jazz Apple, after being in a break of 8 for three-quarters of the race.

Then the stage racing began with San Dimas Stage Race from March 20th through 22nd in Pomona, California. My team, Metro Volkswagen, traveled over to my neck of the woods to race together as a team. In the uphill time trial I placed 34th with a time of 17:35.53, and 2:37.34 off of the leader’s time (Mara Abbott 15:01.59). Then in the road race my teammate, Casey Gale, and I were able to get into a breakaway on the first lap. The break contained 13 people, four of who were from Columbia High Road and another four were from Colavita. Those two teams mainly dictated the breakaway. I helped lead out Casey for Queen of the Mountain points, and she helped lead me out in the final sprint to the finish. I ended up in 4th place, with Ina-Yoko Teutenberg taking the win. In the final stage, the criterium, the whole team was able to stay top 15 most of race. We launched attacks one after another. After Ashley Anderson’s vicious attack Ina-Yoko Teutenberg attacked hard, and no one responded. Then we turned the next corner, and I gave it 110% to bridge up to her. I came about 10meters behind her and when she made the right turn on the downhill straight she dropped it to her 11-cog and sped away, and I was left spinning out in my 14-cog junior gear. The team tried to set me up for the sprint, and I placed 7th, behind Ina-Yoko Teutenberg again. I was pretty tired after trying to bridge up to Ina, so I didn’t have my usual, final kick.

Three days later Redlands Classic began! In the self-torture prologue I finished in 85th place, 2:38 behind the winner, Amber Neben. The next stage was in Beaumont, California. For the day it was called Blowmont, since the wind was blowing over 20mph. In the crosswind sections I would be blown all over the road, in the tailwind sections I would spin my junior gears to almost 200rpms, and in the headwind sections I would just close my eyes and pray that I would stay with the front group. I did stay with the front group, but on the last crosswind section going into the finish I was unable to keep up. A few other girls and I worked together to ensure we didn’t get time cut. I finished in 50th, and I was happy with my result because I was the first junior in the race to keep up with the main group. In the criterium the goal was to keep our GC riders, Casey Gale and Shannon Koch, safe from harm. I made sure Shannon was on my wheel and always in the top 15. Then in the final sprint our guest rider, Kendall Ryan, and I helped each other out to move up in the last three laps for the sprint. I finished in 20th place, with Ina-Yoko Teutenberg winning once again. Then in the notorious Sunset Road Race, the goal for that stage was to keep Casey Gale in the front since she was our GC racer. On the first lap I made sure she was on the front, and after that I was done and shot off the back. I finished in 58th and 49th in final general classification.

So far so good for my first couple races. All these events were to help build my fitness for my goal in the summer. Up next is going to be Dana Point Grand Prix and Sea Otter Classic. But most importantly, thanks for all your help and support for getting me to where I am now!

I’ll keep the updates coming & thanks for reading,

Coryn Rivera