Tuesday night was the first of 3 races in the Hollywood Circuit Race Series at the Dakota Technical College in Rosemount, MN. The night was hot and muggy but the riders came out by the car load to race.
The Women's Open race starts early - 5:30 - and we got there just in time for a quick warm up and a couple coaching laps before the start. My goal in crit racing is learning to corner better so the twisty semi-truck course was the perfect learning tool. There were 8 of us at the start, and Jay rode behind us coaching the whole way.
The race was fast and I learned to corner out there quick, taking the turns hotter than ever before. There were a couple sprints that try to get off a couple times, but not without the field noticing. With 3 laps to go, the entire field sat up, sipping water, and started to look around. Jay was whispering in my ear about how "if they do this next lap, you should go off the front"....then he had a change of heart and urged me to go.....and I did! I tore off the front without a second thought, cranking my legs through the shicaines as hard as I could muster. I got a huge lead and held it for an entire lap before I had to recover. They caught on and, just like the pros, Linda Sone counter attacked! The field was tired and tried desparately to keep on. I had completely blown my load and got dropped, angry as heck that I had so little left and so far to go. Jay kept on me to snap out of it (he was right - I worked my tail off doing something I had never attempted to do before, and I rocked the hell out of it!)
I finally got over it, TT'ing my way up to Sarah. We rode side by side for the last lap, both of us off the back, setting up for a fair finishing sprint. I took a great line, tight on the inside corner on the final turn. Sarah jumped me, but I answered with some crazy hockey-power on the FSA's and tore away, taking 6th place overall. Linda kept on her game, and won it for the team! Bleed Silver! It wasn't until the end that I saw my Hollywood Flyer wasn't all in vein...it helped the team get the win. Being the domestique was so much fun!!!
Thanks babe for absolutely everything you do to help me every step of the way! I wouldn't be where I am without you : )
XOXO
Kristy Kreme
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Post Ride Recovery... At the ER
Thursday night was supposed to be just a typical night out riding mountain bikes with my husband. Just us, our single speed bikes, and the...
-
Sunday was so beautiful when Jay and I got up for yet another cyclocross race. The temps weren't much warmer than Saturday, but the sun... -
That's right, all the hype and now the delivery! Check out Hwood's & my production of the MN 2007 Cyclocross Season! Paryin'...
-
I can't believe it's been more than 3 weeks since the last time I've logged on! I feel like I've barely had time to veg...bu...
5 comments:
I was recently whining to a local Cat 1 dude about blowing myself up after attacking too early in a race - he told me that he never regrets attacking, even if he comes across the line last. I decided he's right. It's great practice, and you never know until you try...and one day, you'll win the race because of it! And besides, we don't want our women's races to be boring. So nice work!
KK,
You did good! My boyfriend Rich asked me before the race.."Will you please make some attacks? It makes it much more fun for the viewing." And as Strats said, who wants to ride around in a circle talking about nailpolish and the weather if you can take some action out there.
Julia
Do you girls really talk about nail polish?
Since my toenails arent anything to play "show and tell" with I try to hold the conversation to a more functional level such as "how many more laps?"
:)Julia
Gals, I love riding with ya! Thanks for all the encouragement and good times. :) Great job this weekend!
Post a Comment