Did I really just do that?
The Capitol Crit was today -- it was absolutely beautiful out when I woke up a good 45 minutes after my alarm went off. Oops. I managed to get myself put together, out the door, and on my bike pretty quickly though, and was only about 10 minutes late meeting the other Bellas at Coffee News. From there we rolled over to the the Capitol, where we jumped in line at registration. Women started flocking in from all sides, which was pretty exciting, there were a few SPBRC ladies, Gopher Wheelwomen, Bettys, Bellas, Flanders, U of M, and some others in there. It was an open race, so we were all in there together. I must say, when we all rolled up to the start line there was a large Bella contingent! Margot, Barb, Stratton, Paula, Manda, Lindsey, Angie, Sheryl, Jodi, and I (hope I'm not missing anyone!) were ready to go, and Stacia and Jenn were there officiating. Nice showing!!!
Theresa shot off the front from the beginning, so that was that, and the rest of the field settled into a pretty fast paced race. I didn't expect to feel very good after accidentally riding almost 5 hours yesterday, but I surprised myself and hung with the lead group. The race was fun -- there was a 180 hairpin, a couple other pretty nice corners, and a slight rise. Barb and I traded attacks in the second half of the race, trying to wear down the field a little, and keep the pace up. Margot came through in the end with an awesome finish for 2nd in the pack sprint, and 3rd in the race. I think I was 8th or 9th or something. Not too bad. After the race, we headed down to Kowalskis for some lunch -- there were about 8 of us in Bella kits, and the Grand Old Day festival parade was going on. Which was interesting, because everyone seemed to think we were somehow part of the parade. No, actually, we're just hungry bike racers. We headed back to the race to lounge around, and somehow, one thing led to another (don't ask me how), and before I knew it I was talking to Matt Anderson (USCF official) asking about getting an upgrade. And that was pretty much it. He took my license number and that was that. Good-bye cat 4 racing, and good-bye to winning. I looked at Paula and said, "Did I really just do that?" So, yes, I did.
Tomorrow I'm headed to Portland, Oregon, for work for a few days. It's pretty exciting -- I'm finally going to see the city where I plan to live eventually (if my life works out the way I've planned it - I figure I have a 50/50 chance.)
Thanks for reading!
Theresa shot off the front from the beginning, so that was that, and the rest of the field settled into a pretty fast paced race. I didn't expect to feel very good after accidentally riding almost 5 hours yesterday, but I surprised myself and hung with the lead group. The race was fun -- there was a 180 hairpin, a couple other pretty nice corners, and a slight rise. Barb and I traded attacks in the second half of the race, trying to wear down the field a little, and keep the pace up. Margot came through in the end with an awesome finish for 2nd in the pack sprint, and 3rd in the race. I think I was 8th or 9th or something. Not too bad. After the race, we headed down to Kowalskis for some lunch -- there were about 8 of us in Bella kits, and the Grand Old Day festival parade was going on. Which was interesting, because everyone seemed to think we were somehow part of the parade. No, actually, we're just hungry bike racers. We headed back to the race to lounge around, and somehow, one thing led to another (don't ask me how), and before I knew it I was talking to Matt Anderson (USCF official) asking about getting an upgrade. And that was pretty much it. He took my license number and that was that. Good-bye cat 4 racing, and good-bye to winning. I looked at Paula and said, "Did I really just do that?" So, yes, I did.
Tomorrow I'm headed to Portland, Oregon, for work for a few days. It's pretty exciting -- I'm finally going to see the city where I plan to live eventually (if my life works out the way I've planned it - I figure I have a 50/50 chance.)
Thanks for reading!
posted by karla at 10:54 PM
5 Comments:
Haha! Goodbye life of leisure, hello pain. I think you'll have an awesome time riding with big girls. Especially at the State Road Race!
congrats on the upgrade!
I just upgraded to a 3 here in southern CA. Did my first 1/2/3 Crit yesterday (4's or 3's and 4's usually race separate here)and had a blast! The racing is so much more interesting and hard which equals more fun! Good luck!
Hmm, where did that yellow jersey go... and now that the top 4 spots in the CMR series are all Bettys, where is that yellow jersey going to stay.... nice teamwork, Special K! :P
congrats on the upgrade!! i feel your pain
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