Woman's Illinois State Championship Cyclo Cross Race.
pics....
http://flickr.com/photos/19091172@N02/
http://velosnaps.wordpress.com/
Before I start my usual rehashing.....I have to scream out YAY!
Verdigris !!!!!!!
Chris Lombardo got first in 30+ and Brian Doughtery got second! wow. Scott did a number in the cat 3 field and a great job in his first season. He got stronger and stronger! 12 year old David Lombardo got 2nd in the State Championship for his age group and took the Hole shot and he is racing against 16 year olds. Bob, and the 'new guy' Ward who is going to be seen all this summer racing so WATCH out and ALL the others all did so well and .
This was such a fun fun season . Chicago Cyclo Cross had MORE races than EVER this year and I came to every single freeegin one. Our final race was just ICING on the CAKE. Lots of Icing. Big fluffy snowy icing. Icing everywhere! ooooooh that Turin crew is a bunch of sick sick bastards for making this course. :) It would be tough to do dry, in July. But now its December, cold and we is racin' IN SNOW. LOTS of snow. with corners and walls and..... Turin bahstards...... :)LOL
Illinois State Championships.... It was a three ring circus event with 'danger!' corners and brick walls and snowy downhill bits with little muddy slides at the bottom that made you run into pointy sharp things.
((okok I am exagerating a little bit in case you can't tell)).
The only thing that I really liked about the course was the freaking long major hill to climb and pass people on and..oh..wait... There were KIDS SLEDDING ON IT. haha. Oooh I love it.
Part of the course with the 'wall' I am talking about was a ViaDuck! which we rode underneath over a paved bike path. There was a slick issue at the base where I had to scrub some speed coming down the hill to avoid a repeat of Northbrook. ((I hit the pavement hard and hurt my knee in that race and it took me 2 weeks to get my knee to bend right again)). no biggie. ~sniff~ me tough. yyyyeaaaaah I Just know better now about pavement and cross tires.
THe course inventor people really liked this ViaDUCK!~ they used up four hills on every side for the race. They taped off half the bike path underneath and you stayed on half of the path for going out and half for coming back. So during the race, we had come 'er's and go'ers moving around under the viaDuck! . ONe time I was coming down the first swoosh, rode under and started to ride up the hill on the other side and I heard a tremendous crash (DONT LOOK!!!) I barely missed getting myself slid into by a guy that was trying to ride down on the Go'er side. WHEW! The best time was half way thru the race when the barricade tape was all over the course, I came down and went under the Via-DUCK! and the tape was just gone. There was a lot of potential for the Go'ers to run into the Come'ers. ooops... That almost sounds pornish. Sorry. :( oh but they fixed it fast. There was tape breaking fast all over the course. I am laughing as I write this. It was pretty fun.
Ohohoh...~Then you had the Ouchy Branches everywhere to poke your eyes out when you weren't lookin'. I was rushin' down the hill and almost forgot about that one branch juttin out at the base of the hill just where I always wanted to take my line, too.... DUCK!!!!!! Slippery nasty cold snow. I bet there are some eyeballs scattered about down at the base of that hill.
Not much mud but HEY! Sand! I mean its Lake Michigan....There is a beach! Let's ride the beach. :) haha. ((no it wasn't that bad.)) But it was rideable because the sand was thick and cold and by the time the guys were done with their masters races there was a wonderful line thru the sand to ride. (yay) But at the end of the thick tramped- on sand was a BIG LUMPY DUNE. about a yard or so high...no it was GI- NORMAS! Big lumpy lump to ride up. HEY! What were they thinking?? Those silly course planners!! I mean, That would have been a really fun drop going the other way into a sand pit!!! It would have made MUCH more sense to ride it the OTHER way and have a hundred face plants in the sand. I mean...come on!! Weeee BOOOMP!!! flop. HAHA. ((Thank God whoever designed the course really wasn't ALL sadistical and eveilish)).
This mound was about 2 feet high and if you powered it up you could ride it on the left side just fine. If you were one of the mountain biker tough guy's you could just lift up your front wheel and ride up any part of it. ((I can't do that and when I tried to do in my practice lap, I only lifted up my bike like an inch, hit the dune, came to a complete stop and fell over like Benny Hill)) But I rode up the left side pretty easily. EVERY lap I might add ''preen'' yup I did. The men made a nice path just fer the ladies to use. Thank ya'all so much. :)
CHicago people are fun. ANd SPeaking of Chicago People. We had a brilliant line up of Illlinois talent in the women's field. DEVON HASKELL who ranks 5th in the country last I read, Rebecca 'way too' Much 'power'. and HOlly Klug that has raced..MORE cross races than probably anyone in the country this season having done both Wisconsin AND Illinois series every weekend... and ALL the dedicated and brazen (but not naked its much too cold for that) motley crew of the Cyclo Crossn' crazy SHE RAH girls of the cat 1,2,3 races.... and even a couple brave hearts from Wisconsin. All we needed to round this out was Debbie Dust (too smart!) and Sara Tilitson (where is she?) and whoever else from races past who could have rocked this course. Gals that are way too smart to come out in minus 10 windchill, lake effect, snowy Chicago weather. But even so.... DO YOU REALIZE that we had ONE whopping good bunch of ultra competitors. We almost could have had a pro 1-2 and a cat 3 race we had enough gals today. Chicago Cyclo Cross Women ROCK!!! Even for ANY championship race this was one tough group of gals. Today , at a cross race in 16 degree weather with a 10 degree wind chill....we had at least 20 ? gals. Amazing!
OK....excuses time (cause I always have 10,000 excuses to lose and god forbid it was cause I was outclassed..oh no!))... THis season..I have spent nearly all my training INSIDE and only come outside an hour before my races. ((EXCEPT for the fabulous and FUN randomly placed Bandit races shhhhh.)) Yes I know, I know I KNOW........it is my OWN fault for not riding more often. I was really kicking myself for not riding more when its snowy out and 10 below. SILLY ME!
But still, I must be THE most timid cross racer in the entire series. THE most timid. I couldn't even clip out well in August but now I have that down pat. My cornering needs work. I just have a lot of that 'back to the labratory' stuffs to do now. I was 'super wuss' in my practice lap. Anyone that was around me heard me whine that "I can't do this. I can't do this" about every other corner. MY GOD! The SNOW! the slippery! Ohhhh...I embarrass my team. I should be tougher than this. oooh speaking of the team:
Hank saw me freaking out in my pre ride so he pulled me to his side and told me that there was no one here that could ride away from me. OK. Breathe... That kinda settled me down. ((True or not true I think we all need to hear something to boost our confidence from time to time . It was what I needed to hear the most to settle my nerves ))
Its supposed to be fun! I was actually surprised I was acting this way. I was nervous about losing the championship series that I managed somehow to hang onto for all the races and all the weekends of punishment. So close. I really wanted to win this series. Hank was his usual coachy self and trying to tell me what to do, what line to take and where to watch out...it really helps. GOOD advice was what he gave and mind you..he is just a reader and observer but he knows things like someone that has been doing this for years. LIke telling me not to worry about clipping in on that swooopy downhill where I had to jump on my bike in the off camber. ( I hate that) . He was right. I wish I knew that at Northbrook I might not have crashed on that hill. Just get on the bike and the clipping in will just happen on its own...concentrate on the corner at the bottom first and foremost. Control is not that hard even when you are not clipped in.
ANd whenever I said I was nervous Hank would just say "good, that is good its good to be nervous". But I really need to learn to be TOUGH.
When the whistle blew I usually have no problem getting up to the front and I have gotten two hole shots this season, so I know that is like. Not today! That went to Holly. I clipped in fine and fast but felt jostled. EVERYONE wanted that tiny clear path where all the traction was. Holly said she just got BULLY and pushed her way there. Looking back I shoulda put myself more on the outside where no one was, Or just PUSHED BACK for crying out loud! Well... Holly took the Hole shot and Devon was hot behind her, then Rebecca..... and I was ....the word Holly told me.....DFL. (dead fucking last) at the first corner. Behind TEN women. All I could think was "?" What happened? What did I just freaking DO???? WHY?
I was out of the competition in the first five seconds of the race. Such is the way of cyclo crossing . I know better too. OK. Deep breath. DO NOT PANIC. Keep it going and just pass who you can as fast as you can. For the briefest of seconds early in the race..I mean if we could have just stopped time right then and there, Holly had the championship in her hands and even won the series. I had to do something or I"ll lose everything I worked so hard for. It gets sleepy following the pace of another. This is perhaps an easier evil to fall into for a roadie who is used to drafting than it is for a mountain biker who is used to pass pass pass on the trails. I had to plan my attacks in the best areas to avoid getting crashed in the snow. I attacked on the climbs, my best asset. Push to pass the girls as hard as I could then HOLD it by hammering as hard as I could to get away. I kept myself upright. The snow sometimes made it tough to get my legs to go faster as I kept scrubbing on the corners. UP ahead , way up there, I could see the 'real' race going on for the championship. I was out of contention for a win, but had to concentrate on the series points.
Devon soon overtook her and passed her in the snow. Holly said she just couldn't hold onto Devon long enough to let her draft her up further away from Rebecca. She commented on how smooth and quick Devon's barricades were. But Holly never slows down. If you can't be on HER wheel you probably won't see her again. I know that. Soon Rebecca had caught her and passed her and was trying like heck to catch onto Devon. Once Devon gets the lead dog spot she never gives it up. I was struggling in the back to reclaim what I lost. I powered past 5 women halfway up the climb on the hill in the first lap. Rebecca and Holly were already coming down the hill. I was just going to have to reel in one at a time best I could. Stay strong. That is tough to do because the path to stay on was narrow and the sides were snow covered, JUST GO. DO NOT crash.
At this point I had to ride DEFENSIVELY just to keep my title series. There was just no way to catch a win but maybe I can still sniff the podium if I just RIDE smart and stay strong. You just never know what can happen. I blinked. People were SKIING on the course.... HA! ITS CROSS RACING AMERICAN STYLE. Gotta love it. :)
You know that you are all nuts for liking this...You know that , do'nt cha? :) ha!!! yeah yeah. I love it too. ..sigh... I really do.
I did finally pass Katy and then powered up to Jessica. It took a while. But once the race started and the nerves dissappeared, I felt faster. I had moments where I felt like I was flying... WHen it was open and I could hammer I just let it open up and I let the speed happen. After a while the corners didn't freak me out so bad. Those three in front of me were NOT slowing down. NOt ever. It was like too little too late, you know?
I never did get up to Rebecca and HOlly. Devon was already long gone. I was riding as fast as I could and sometimes I couldnt even see straight. I almost forgot about the barricade at the end of the limestone path on the third lap but I clipped out just in time. I fell once in the snow but had to jump off my bike anyway to run up the hill so it didn't matter. The tape was EVERYWHERE on the course, men in front of us had blasted thru the course and once I nearly got caught OUTSIDE the course when I took the wrong side of the tape. That is when Katy caught back up to me again when I had to hit the brakes to reorient back onto the course. Grrrrrrrr. She passed me after the sand dune and I passed her immediately and this time I made it STICK. I am glad she was there to egg me on or give me a carrot to chase or I"d have given up. I heard later that Rebecca had crashed in the last lap. Holly had taken that opportunity to pass her. Holly took second. Devon won!!
Devon is Illinois State Cross Champion for 2008. :) I came in for fourth place and Katy was storming up behind me.
Yeah I am frustrated with my start it makes me lose sleep a bit. But hey. It was meant to be. Even if I had a do-over at the start, I think on this course I"d have gotten the same place anyway. I need to get on my mountain bike this summer and relearn my skills back again. :) And I will, too.
Well....At least I held onto my series but the final scene was rather anti-climatic since I didn't get a podium. That was tough to do with the talent I was faced with. GOOD race. GOOD competition. I did my best. WOW we really did have more races than ever before and somehow I survived.
My second cross season is now done officially. I am definitely rooting for the men of my team and for the men and women of Chicagoland to do well at Nationals! GO VERDIGRIS!!!
NED WHO?
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