Ok. I guess Cross can get pricey.Hank did this today jumping onto his bike after a dismount. Niiiiiice. He said it was squeaking a bit before it POPPED apart.
Pretty POWERful huh??
Now you know why I stay with him...... :)
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
The Oak Brook State Championship
EDITTED. I felt bad about my blog. It wasn't fair to everyone that showed up and everyone that helped. It was insensitive . My feelings at the time were pretty hot about it though. You know when you come off a race and you are kinda emotional? I dont mind losing but I never felt I had a race. I have had harder training rides, if you know what I mean. But it was a first time event and I hope they try it again.
Safety was first at the Oak Brook event. Hurt memories and deep pain were still in our hearts as we remembered Beth, the cat 4 woman's rider who was fatally hit by a truck last year. Everyone was happy to have a road race today. I felt it a duty to show up and race in her memory and her honor.
We were started on a 3 mile course a minute behind the cat 1/2 men. We had 16 laps. Our race was shortened to 45 miles from 60. (no big surprise there with the small field that showed up). To keep it really safe the pace car neutralized us every time the men lapped us. (which was often) There were even Primes!!! Primes!!
I don't know how to blog this race. I sooo so so don't want to take anything away from the actual venue and event. Many, many volunteers showed up and HAY BALES and lots of kids cheering. Primes out the whazoo! yeah..primes. It was a road race. ha. It was really cool. These are the things that I normally would be so happy about. THe organizers did a great job setting up an amazing venue in such short notice. (6 weeks!) They tried to come up with a way to race the races safely. It is hard to do that on a small course and harder to get a bigger course. Its just getting hard to do 'road' races.
You know....like I said, I came because as a local gal I felt obligated but also that I wanted to show appreciation for the hard work of setting up a race so fast and so WELL done. BTW......I actually trained for this event.
I decided to blog because I do think that people should know what happened in this race in case in the future this happens again . I am not a very flexible person and had just one plan. Get away and stay away. Use attrition to my advantage as long as I could. The course itself made it difficult to get away and the depth of our small woman's field was just enough of a match in strengths that is was clearly going to be difficult.
I started to realize my plan was never going to work due to a long long neutralization of about 10 minutes. :) Getting put into an officially neutralized slow pace for 5-10 minutes every 4-5 laps (for safety reasons) is enough to let anyone recover and get back into the game. NO attrition. No test of strength. In short, It was not a race at all. OH.... we were safe!!! Bubble wrapped and safe as babies in a crib. But we were not REALLY racing. However that being said it could easily be to someone else's advantage and anyone with a brain would love this type of racing and would go with the flow.
I dont want to spend so much time talking about this but...I guess its my 'therapy' to mull it over. Its over. Its done. Actually the neutral parts were kinda fun and we chatted and joked. I had a pretty good time and hey, it wasn't all bad. No teams and a small field of women but not a field without depth and there were enuf good riders to make getting away rather difficult. I thought about the Elgin race which was surprisingly tougher than this and had only 9 women racing in it. I was hoping this would still be a good hard event. The hills were kinda like Haeger's bend hills in Barrington (the triples) on the Harper ride but with a faster downhill leading to the second hill.
At one time about half way into the event we really started to 'race' and were finally forcing a higher pace with some consistancy. It actually got HARD and became a real race!!! FUN! Two were off the front and someone started to bridge. After a hairpin corner I took over and powered past one gal then the other up the first hill. We got two gals shelled off the back and now I was on the front. I was really feeling some delicious pain in my legs. Suddenly on the downhill leading to the next climb, Prinner countered my bridge RIGHT into the hill. Beautiful! Expertly done. ... Meshburg went with her and didn't even have to pedal. When Prinner jumped and attacked us on the hill. She went for it hard and took Meshburg with her. Oooops fer me! right? .... ..they should have gotten away. They had a gap. My legs were screaming. I slowed just a little and Francine came around me. I saw the top of the hill and was just figuring on surviving the hill to try to recover fast enough to catch on later. I felt that they would get away. I watched and saw Meshburg move in front of Jessie and......they sat up. But we were gaining on them pretty quickly. Everyone was trying to get away and make a race of this.
Francine bridged and we hit the tailwind hard. I moved up to the front and kept the pace high. I held it back just a little bit...wait for it. wait for it. wait wait wait for the corner that goes to the cross wind! I felt GOOD. GOOD legs. (tailwind always feels good) I was going to just go as hard as I could at the corner. I was thinking of what to do. At this point if someone did a powerful attack at the corner they might just get away into the cross wind. Maybe to set a smaller break. But...For all I know someone behind me was thinking the exact same thing and *I* was on the front leading fast to that very corner of truth so I could easily easily get attacked by someone behind me now. GET READY! This was it. HURT and more HURT. In any event we were racing. I was getting my money's worth finally.
Suddenly ...... right about at the start finish line, I got waved at by the pace car dude. At first I just waved back. My mind was totally on my game plan. Then I saw the pace car coming closer so I thought of it like a carrot to make me go faster. But he slowed more and told us to stop. WHAT? It finally dawned on me when Meshburg shouted out neutral lap.
NO!!!!!!
THey stopped us cold. DAMN IT.
Wait for the men to pass. Kirsten Meshburg asked if we could have the gals off the back start in the same place. The official said yeah sure. But he forgot. Or he didn't care. We were soft pedaling for about 10 minutes as the men's front break passed. Then waited till the rest of the men's pack passed us. It was too hot to just stop and wait on the hot cement. We had to keep moving. This sucked.
THey started us all up again all together. No one did anything after that for a couple laps. I honestly dont remember but it never picked up again like that. I tried to get away again at 2 laps to go but that didn't take. No one countered and everyone did the 'settle in for the sprint' routine. One of the gals that got dropped by more than 500 yards had been let back on because of our soft pedaling neutrality. She kept quiet in the back for the rest of the race (once bitten twice shy, right?) SHe waited till the sprint and she podiumed. LOL. funny. I love it. ...oh... But who cares. Whatever. ITS DONE AND OVER AND SUCH IS THE WAYS OF BIKE RACING.
Well. Another race I messed up. Water under the bridge. I am still kicking myself. I lost sleep thinking about how I didn't jump first. You know, I shoulda had that in my head...
Guys that raced the course said it was really tough to get away. Hindsite.... I should have just dove into the cross wind on the last lap. Pearson won the cat 1-2 race that way and no one saw that coming. But the girls in the peleton had some power left and I might not have made it. However I still shoulda woulda coulda tried that. Hmmm. doh.
But the real kudo's still goes to Meshburg. She jumped first and won the sprint.
WELL...gripes aside.... If they had not had to neutralize the race so much for the men to pass us safely, it might have been a bad accident. But maybe with so few women present we would have been ok? I don't know. It was just the way it was. Everything went smoothly for the men's race . If we had not been neutralized I do think at the very least it would have been a much more interesting and harder race and not the boring schlog-fest that it was. Instead any hard pace that was established was immediately nullified. It was like having a free lap every 3 laps. ((that sounds like a rap tune))
I don't even know how to blog about this. LIke I said, I so so SO do not want to dis the organizers and I came to the race just to honor that fact that they held a race. I really came to race. I guess the only thing left to do is to just get ready for Cross.
Safety was first at the Oak Brook event. Hurt memories and deep pain were still in our hearts as we remembered Beth, the cat 4 woman's rider who was fatally hit by a truck last year. Everyone was happy to have a road race today. I felt it a duty to show up and race in her memory and her honor.
We were started on a 3 mile course a minute behind the cat 1/2 men. We had 16 laps. Our race was shortened to 45 miles from 60. (no big surprise there with the small field that showed up). To keep it really safe the pace car neutralized us every time the men lapped us. (which was often) There were even Primes!!! Primes!!
I don't know how to blog this race. I sooo so so don't want to take anything away from the actual venue and event. Many, many volunteers showed up and HAY BALES and lots of kids cheering. Primes out the whazoo! yeah..primes. It was a road race. ha. It was really cool. These are the things that I normally would be so happy about. THe organizers did a great job setting up an amazing venue in such short notice. (6 weeks!) They tried to come up with a way to race the races safely. It is hard to do that on a small course and harder to get a bigger course. Its just getting hard to do 'road' races.
You know....like I said, I came because as a local gal I felt obligated but also that I wanted to show appreciation for the hard work of setting up a race so fast and so WELL done. BTW......I actually trained for this event.
I decided to blog because I do think that people should know what happened in this race in case in the future this happens again . I am not a very flexible person and had just one plan. Get away and stay away. Use attrition to my advantage as long as I could. The course itself made it difficult to get away and the depth of our small woman's field was just enough of a match in strengths that is was clearly going to be difficult.
I started to realize my plan was never going to work due to a long long neutralization of about 10 minutes. :) Getting put into an officially neutralized slow pace for 5-10 minutes every 4-5 laps (for safety reasons) is enough to let anyone recover and get back into the game. NO attrition. No test of strength. In short, It was not a race at all. OH.... we were safe!!! Bubble wrapped and safe as babies in a crib. But we were not REALLY racing. However that being said it could easily be to someone else's advantage and anyone with a brain would love this type of racing and would go with the flow.
I dont want to spend so much time talking about this but...I guess its my 'therapy' to mull it over. Its over. Its done. Actually the neutral parts were kinda fun and we chatted and joked. I had a pretty good time and hey, it wasn't all bad. No teams and a small field of women but not a field without depth and there were enuf good riders to make getting away rather difficult. I thought about the Elgin race which was surprisingly tougher than this and had only 9 women racing in it. I was hoping this would still be a good hard event. The hills were kinda like Haeger's bend hills in Barrington (the triples) on the Harper ride but with a faster downhill leading to the second hill.
At one time about half way into the event we really started to 'race' and were finally forcing a higher pace with some consistancy. It actually got HARD and became a real race!!! FUN! Two were off the front and someone started to bridge. After a hairpin corner I took over and powered past one gal then the other up the first hill. We got two gals shelled off the back and now I was on the front. I was really feeling some delicious pain in my legs. Suddenly on the downhill leading to the next climb, Prinner countered my bridge RIGHT into the hill. Beautiful! Expertly done. ... Meshburg went with her and didn't even have to pedal. When Prinner jumped and attacked us on the hill. She went for it hard and took Meshburg with her. Oooops fer me! right? .... ..they should have gotten away. They had a gap. My legs were screaming. I slowed just a little and Francine came around me. I saw the top of the hill and was just figuring on surviving the hill to try to recover fast enough to catch on later. I felt that they would get away. I watched and saw Meshburg move in front of Jessie and......they sat up. But we were gaining on them pretty quickly. Everyone was trying to get away and make a race of this.
Francine bridged and we hit the tailwind hard. I moved up to the front and kept the pace high. I held it back just a little bit...wait for it. wait for it. wait wait wait for the corner that goes to the cross wind! I felt GOOD. GOOD legs. (tailwind always feels good) I was going to just go as hard as I could at the corner. I was thinking of what to do. At this point if someone did a powerful attack at the corner they might just get away into the cross wind. Maybe to set a smaller break. But...For all I know someone behind me was thinking the exact same thing and *I* was on the front leading fast to that very corner of truth so I could easily easily get attacked by someone behind me now. GET READY! This was it. HURT and more HURT. In any event we were racing. I was getting my money's worth finally.
Suddenly ...... right about at the start finish line, I got waved at by the pace car dude. At first I just waved back. My mind was totally on my game plan. Then I saw the pace car coming closer so I thought of it like a carrot to make me go faster. But he slowed more and told us to stop. WHAT? It finally dawned on me when Meshburg shouted out neutral lap.
NO!!!!!!
THey stopped us cold. DAMN IT.
Wait for the men to pass. Kirsten Meshburg asked if we could have the gals off the back start in the same place. The official said yeah sure. But he forgot. Or he didn't care. We were soft pedaling for about 10 minutes as the men's front break passed. Then waited till the rest of the men's pack passed us. It was too hot to just stop and wait on the hot cement. We had to keep moving. This sucked.
THey started us all up again all together. No one did anything after that for a couple laps. I honestly dont remember but it never picked up again like that. I tried to get away again at 2 laps to go but that didn't take. No one countered and everyone did the 'settle in for the sprint' routine. One of the gals that got dropped by more than 500 yards had been let back on because of our soft pedaling neutrality. She kept quiet in the back for the rest of the race (once bitten twice shy, right?) SHe waited till the sprint and she podiumed. LOL. funny. I love it. ...oh... But who cares. Whatever. ITS DONE AND OVER AND SUCH IS THE WAYS OF BIKE RACING.
Well. Another race I messed up. Water under the bridge. I am still kicking myself. I lost sleep thinking about how I didn't jump first. You know, I shoulda had that in my head...
Guys that raced the course said it was really tough to get away. Hindsite.... I should have just dove into the cross wind on the last lap. Pearson won the cat 1-2 race that way and no one saw that coming. But the girls in the peleton had some power left and I might not have made it. However I still shoulda woulda coulda tried that. Hmmm. doh.
But the real kudo's still goes to Meshburg. She jumped first and won the sprint.
WELL...gripes aside.... If they had not had to neutralize the race so much for the men to pass us safely, it might have been a bad accident. But maybe with so few women present we would have been ok? I don't know. It was just the way it was. Everything went smoothly for the men's race . If we had not been neutralized I do think at the very least it would have been a much more interesting and harder race and not the boring schlog-fest that it was. Instead any hard pace that was established was immediately nullified. It was like having a free lap every 3 laps. ((that sounds like a rap tune))
I don't even know how to blog about this. LIke I said, I so so SO do not want to dis the organizers and I came to the race just to honor that fact that they held a race. I really came to race. I guess the only thing left to do is to just get ready for Cross.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Sunday, August 10, 2008
whew
MY GOD have you seen the CROSS races coming up?? Wisc/Illinois If you live out here and race cyclo cross this year you could be looking at well over 20+ races to play at.
ANd if you drive to other events it just gets better and better. .....its really getting popular.
This is incredible!
ANd if you drive to other events it just gets better and better. .....its really getting popular.
This is incredible!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Elgin race.
I raced Elgin. (yay a hill finally)
But I started to hear the stories about the Elk Grove race. I didn't race that race. A local gal won, Kirsten Meshburg. She rocks!
Personally, I want the Omnium. I would love that. Okokok. I didn't race because I took a nap, laid out on the deck and was just lazy lazy lazy. Ok? But it felt good to nap and be lazy. I needed that. Still....To have an omnium like the men have would be WONderful. So close to home. A weekend of NRC points.that would be so sweet. I guess when I heard some gals were not going to be there I lost a bit of momentum to go. Maybe women are more apt to do things when we hear other women are going. It might be the case. Or maybe its just that its august and there are things that need to be taken care of non-bike related. Like laying out on the deck and being lazy. We are so mysterious. :)~
I did Elgin and only 10 women showed up but they offered the same purse as advertised. It paid out 10 deep. :) It was fun. A HILL! yay. More fun than I had in a looong time at a race. I enjoyed it immensely and to think I almost didn't go! I am so glad I went. It made me like racing again.
The only thing scary was a tight corner at the bottom of a fast descent. Then a faster still downhill chicane with an acute angle going up the hill. Like an S. It was mapped out to look just like Shorewood in design but the chicane was much tighter and the profile was a fast down then UP then turn right and UP some more. It was a good 'crit' hill, not too steep and if you keep your momentum it was just an 'out of the saddle' good hard pump for a bit. Powerful stuff. If you tapped your brakes at all you were going to suffer. NO brakes. Hank and Andy K. said do NOT hit your brakes and keep smooth. I told Hank I would brake. I do it without knowing I do it. So dont waste breath telling me not to brake because I would anyway and it was pointless to tell me not to brake because I do.
....so.....
The race started and I tapped my brakes. I HAD NO BRAKES!!! GAH!!!!! Hank secretly lightened up my brake levers before the race without telling me. !! that freaked me out. I went to use my brakes and there were no brakes!!! I wanted to kill him. :) haha. But it was cool, it was cool , I got used to it (and just squeezed harder.) :P
Debbie Dust was there and chose to do the men's 40+ which turned out to be THE most dicey and challenging event of the day. (fast) I came up to register and she was done racing. She was grinning ear to ear and had hay sticking all over herself and her bike. That girl is craaaazy!. She told me how fun it was but she got herself pushed into the hay bales a couple times. She was safe and sound and... wow that sounded like fun! What with the speeds they were doing. Hay bales were QUITE abundant at this race at every bad corner and stacked nearly eight feet high at some corners. Makes you feel comfy to see that. They care!
Nice clean hay. SOmething about a stack of hay that makes you just want to JUMP right into it. I did have an impulsive thought a few times to just RIDE AIM and LEAP into the hay. Weeeeeeee. That would be fun.
Some of the guys actually did the Elk Grove race earlier in the day. They came out to do this race also either to get series points or just to have fun. They just love to race. I saw one of the crashes in the pro 1,2 event and those guys went head over heels over the hay bales but fortunately no one got hurt. (That is where the word bail out came from btw .....ok maybe not.) Every lap in the 1/2 race there was this racer in the pack braking loudly. We thought he was doing it on purpose to mess people up on the climb. Later we found out someone was not handling their bike well. Hmmmm.
We think that caused the crash because one guy looked like he was going to punch him out ..but he didn't. (whew) Good constraint there. Hank said he would have probably punched the guy out. :) grrrrrrrr.
But they were all ok and got up and got back into the race with their free lap.
I learned while cruising the course that the best line in the chicane was just to apex the second corner and lean your bike. It aimed you directly into the center of the road. THe men in the 1-2 race were totally flying. It was exciting to watch and see how the pro 1/2 guys would take the chicane at full speed in the pack. They do it the right way. The best by far of the day was Mack rider Priebe. WOW. He is smooth. He was off the front with another racer and they were flying. Priebe would pass the first corner of the chicane as it descended and he would just lean over into the corner. But the way he leaned was just a fast shift-lean onto the sides of his tires like he was going to slide into home base. He snapped the lean so fast that it raised some admiration from the crowd, especially the non-cyclists that came out to watch. Many were commenting on it. Of course other guys would do that same style of lean. But his style was snappier like a machine and he was just with one other rider so you really noticed it more. cool.
Elgin is a great venue! Bring your trainer if you go next year. I had a tough time finding a place to warm up and am glad I warmed up at the track earlier in Northbrook. I didn't really want to race. I was not really motivated but when I saw the line up of names that were there I got brighter and happier to do it. I knew it would be a good field. Devon attacked right away and I felt rather 'non- warmed- up'ish. There was a counter then she attacked again. But I started to feel better after a few laps and I attacked while Devon was on the front. I gapped a bit but got caught so I attacked again almost immediately at an unexpected spot when we were riding slow , drinking water. I was actually ON the front which is a no-no. But I jumped hard into the corner into the headwind. I think it surprised some people a bit and I got a gap on the field. (That is not supposed to work by the way) I knew I could go up that hill faster than blazes so I aimed up it and got my gap. 30 feet. I put the head down and went hard into the tailwind before the downhill and thought I was going to get away. GOod to go in a cross wind but a tail wind is ok too. I felt a rider on my wheel and I looked and saw two riders. I just needed someone to come around and help just a little bit and we probably could have stuck that. No one was coming around or ready to. I eased up a bit but the rest of the pack caught us then and there. It was a bit of a downhill. Man it was tough to get away! haha. Well. I sat up, thought I"d wait and try again. None of us were getting dropped. It seemed that we were all so evenly matched today and equally determined to win.
We all tried twice or three times to attack. It was fast and lots of change ups. Primes and prime attacks. Really amazing with just a small pack. But a good bunch of fun. There were only 7 of us left at the end and no one was letting up. Hank said it was good to watch and the crowd was getting into it pretty well. I tell you for the race we put on , it was entertaining. We attacked each other nearly the entire race up until the last two laps where we realized none of us was going to get away. I guess that would have been THE time to attack . Grrr. I blew it. I am sure I wasn't the only one thinking about it. and thinking about it. thinking too much about it. Don't think...just GO!
It came down to Anne Meyers making the final move, she jumped and Devon got on her wheel instantly . We followed and the headwind and Devon's fast thinking and great kick determined her the win. We all ended in a fanned out bunch wheel overlapping wheel. I felt really good. Good race and good training. It was like a ladies nite out or something. :) Thanks ABR.
My lesson today was to ANTICIPATE better my reaction to an action and jump when the jump happens. DOn't hesitate. And also to perhaps BE the first to go, don't wait for someone else to do it. That is the difference right there and especially in this situation.
Now THESE hay bales would be perfect for the Super week races........Super hay bales.
photo from an adventurish blog about a ride for hunger: lovely and creative photography on it. I liked the giant hay bales. This site and their adventure really made me smile.
bikeandbuildvanderpool.blogspot.com/
But I started to hear the stories about the Elk Grove race. I didn't race that race. A local gal won, Kirsten Meshburg. She rocks!
Personally, I want the Omnium. I would love that. Okokok. I didn't race because I took a nap, laid out on the deck and was just lazy lazy lazy. Ok? But it felt good to nap and be lazy. I needed that. Still....To have an omnium like the men have would be WONderful. So close to home. A weekend of NRC points.
I did Elgin and only 10 women showed up but they offered the same purse as advertised. It paid out 10 deep. :) It was fun. A HILL! yay. More fun than I had in a looong time at a race. I enjoyed it immensely and to think I almost didn't go! I am so glad I went. It made me like racing again.
The only thing scary was a tight corner at the bottom of a fast descent. Then a faster still downhill chicane with an acute angle going up the hill. Like an S. It was mapped out to look just like Shorewood in design but the chicane was much tighter and the profile was a fast down then UP then turn right and UP some more. It was a good 'crit' hill, not too steep and if you keep your momentum it was just an 'out of the saddle' good hard pump for a bit. Powerful stuff. If you tapped your brakes at all you were going to suffer. NO brakes. Hank and Andy K. said do NOT hit your brakes and keep smooth. I told Hank I would brake. I do it without knowing I do it. So dont waste breath telling me not to brake because I would anyway and it was pointless to tell me not to brake because I do.
....so.....
The race started and I tapped my brakes. I HAD NO BRAKES!!! GAH!!!!! Hank secretly lightened up my brake levers before the race without telling me. !! that freaked me out. I went to use my brakes and there were no brakes!!! I wanted to kill him. :) haha. But it was cool, it was cool , I got used to it (and just squeezed harder.) :P
Debbie Dust was there and chose to do the men's 40+ which turned out to be THE most dicey and challenging event of the day. (fast) I came up to register and she was done racing. She was grinning ear to ear and had hay sticking all over herself and her bike. That girl is craaaazy!. She told me how fun it was but she got herself pushed into the hay bales a couple times. She was safe and sound and... wow that sounded like fun! What with the speeds they were doing. Hay bales were QUITE abundant at this race at every bad corner and stacked nearly eight feet high at some corners. Makes you feel comfy to see that. They care!
Nice clean hay. SOmething about a stack of hay that makes you just want to JUMP right into it. I did have an impulsive thought a few times to just RIDE AIM and LEAP into the hay. Weeeeeeee. That would be fun.
Some of the guys actually did the Elk Grove race earlier in the day. They came out to do this race also either to get series points or just to have fun. They just love to race. I saw one of the crashes in the pro 1,2 event and those guys went head over heels over the hay bales but fortunately no one got hurt. (That is where the word bail out came from btw .....ok maybe not.) Every lap in the 1/2 race there was this racer in the pack braking loudly. We thought he was doing it on purpose to mess people up on the climb. Later we found out someone was not handling their bike well. Hmmmm.
We think that caused the crash because one guy looked like he was going to punch him out ..but he didn't. (whew) Good constraint there. Hank said he would have probably punched the guy out. :) grrrrrrrr.
But they were all ok and got up and got back into the race with their free lap.
I learned while cruising the course that the best line in the chicane was just to apex the second corner and lean your bike. It aimed you directly into the center of the road. THe men in the 1-2 race were totally flying. It was exciting to watch and see how the pro 1/2 guys would take the chicane at full speed in the pack. They do it the right way. The best by far of the day was Mack rider Priebe. WOW. He is smooth. He was off the front with another racer and they were flying. Priebe would pass the first corner of the chicane as it descended and he would just lean over into the corner. But the way he leaned was just a fast shift-lean onto the sides of his tires like he was going to slide into home base. He snapped the lean so fast that it raised some admiration from the crowd, especially the non-cyclists that came out to watch. Many were commenting on it. Of course other guys would do that same style of lean. But his style was snappier like a machine and he was just with one other rider so you really noticed it more. cool.
Elgin is a great venue! Bring your trainer if you go next year. I had a tough time finding a place to warm up and am glad I warmed up at the track earlier in Northbrook. I didn't really want to race. I was not really motivated but when I saw the line up of names that were there I got brighter and happier to do it. I knew it would be a good field. Devon attacked right away and I felt rather 'non- warmed- up'ish. There was a counter then she attacked again. But I started to feel better after a few laps and I attacked while Devon was on the front. I gapped a bit but got caught so I attacked again almost immediately at an unexpected spot when we were riding slow , drinking water. I was actually ON the front which is a no-no. But I jumped hard into the corner into the headwind. I think it surprised some people a bit and I got a gap on the field. (That is not supposed to work by the way) I knew I could go up that hill faster than blazes so I aimed up it and got my gap. 30 feet. I put the head down and went hard into the tailwind before the downhill and thought I was going to get away. GOod to go in a cross wind but a tail wind is ok too. I felt a rider on my wheel and I looked and saw two riders. I just needed someone to come around and help just a little bit and we probably could have stuck that. No one was coming around or ready to. I eased up a bit but the rest of the pack caught us then and there. It was a bit of a downhill. Man it was tough to get away! haha. Well. I sat up, thought I"d wait and try again. None of us were getting dropped. It seemed that we were all so evenly matched today and equally determined to win.
We all tried twice or three times to attack. It was fast and lots of change ups. Primes and prime attacks. Really amazing with just a small pack. But a good bunch of fun. There were only 7 of us left at the end and no one was letting up. Hank said it was good to watch and the crowd was getting into it pretty well. I tell you for the race we put on , it was entertaining. We attacked each other nearly the entire race up until the last two laps where we realized none of us was going to get away. I guess that would have been THE time to attack . Grrr. I blew it. I am sure I wasn't the only one thinking about it. and thinking about it. thinking too much about it. Don't think...just GO!
It came down to Anne Meyers making the final move, she jumped and Devon got on her wheel instantly . We followed and the headwind and Devon's fast thinking and great kick determined her the win. We all ended in a fanned out bunch wheel overlapping wheel. I felt really good. Good race and good training. It was like a ladies nite out or something. :) Thanks ABR.
My lesson today was to ANTICIPATE better my reaction to an action and jump when the jump happens. DOn't hesitate. And also to perhaps BE the first to go, don't wait for someone else to do it. That is the difference right there and especially in this situation.
Now THESE hay bales would be perfect for the Super week races........Super hay bales.
photo from an adventurish blog about a ride for hunger: lovely and creative photography on it. I liked the giant hay bales. This site and their adventure really made me smile.
bikeandbuildvanderpool.blogspot.com/
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