Superweek - Cudahy!
And I'm tired. Wow.
This morning, we got up and headed out pretty early, around 7:30, with two of my cousins in tow. Amazingly we managed to get to the race without missing any turns or exits and even nabbed a sweet parking space in the shade. The cousins were hired to be dog-sitters by one spectator, and we started our pre-race activities. The course was pretty rough -- the road had a lot of tarred cracks and a couple of the corners were pretty bumpy. There was a nice hole in corner two, but fortunately, as the announcer put it, "It appears that the hole in corner two is outside of the normal line of cornering, so you won't hit it unless you are riding...um...weird."
The race started out freakin' slow, unlike the other days. After a lap, we were going so slow that I was getting nervous, so I went to the front to up the pace. I didn't even attack, I just kind of rrrrrrolled off the front and got a big gap. After the Sheboygan crit, though, I wasn't interested in soloing off the front, so I waited for them to catch back up. Gopher Wheelwoman SB had a good attack and finally the pace got going a little. On about the third or fourth lap, I was sitting in the front third of the pack, and I heard someone yell "on the left" (trying to warn the field that there was someone else attacking) and I looked over and saw Stratton rocketing up the outside edge. One girl went with her, and then Barb and I went to the front of the field to block a little. They had quite a gap and held off the field for almost two laps before everyone caught them. Pretty soon GW SB attacked yet again, and was joined by a couple strong girls, including this one. GW KM was up at the front blocking for SB, and pretty soon someone else attacked and KM followed them up to the others. I was watching closely to see what people were thinking - were we going to chase? Then I noticed the two GW women off the back of the break getting pulled back in - but the other three still had a good gap. I decided that could be the winning break, so I gunned it and bridged up to them. That was NOT easy. I didn't bring anyone with me though, so I was hopeful it might stick. Then I looked back half a lap later and saw a couple girls a little off the front of the group, trying to bridge up to us... there was a bit of reshuffling as a couple more girls latched on, and a couple fell off, and soon we ended up with a group of 7 girls working well together in a solid break off the front. Nice!
Everyone was really strong and working well together, and we nailed it. Fortunately, my heart rate monitor wasn't working, because I probably would have freaked out if I had seen my heart rate. Out of the 7 girls in the break, I was probably struggling the most, but I was just happy to be there. I almost fell off quite a few times, but I kept telling myself, "Yes, this really sucks, and it hurts, but it will suck even MORE if you let yourself drop off the break. Because then you'll still be in 7th place, but riding all by yourself until the field catches you again." I really really didn't want to get caught in that no man's land. So I managed to hang on. After what seemed like forever, but was probably only about 15-20 laps, we lapped the field! The third time I've lapped the field this year! (although this time I had a ton of help). After we reintegrated with the field, most of the girls that were in the break moved to the front and kept on working. There wasn't much left of the field - there was quite a bit of attrition due to the wicked high pace. In the end, we all came around the last couple of laps together, and I managed to come in OK in the final sprint -- about 10th in the field ahead of two of the girls that were in the break with me, for 5th place overall! I was definitely psyched with that!
For our last night here, we booked a swanky hotel, so I just got out of the jacuzzi, and now I'm going to take a little nap before we head downtown to watch the P/1/2 race at Downer Ave. Pictures coming soon. And I'm out.
This morning, we got up and headed out pretty early, around 7:30, with two of my cousins in tow. Amazingly we managed to get to the race without missing any turns or exits and even nabbed a sweet parking space in the shade. The cousins were hired to be dog-sitters by one spectator, and we started our pre-race activities. The course was pretty rough -- the road had a lot of tarred cracks and a couple of the corners were pretty bumpy. There was a nice hole in corner two, but fortunately, as the announcer put it, "It appears that the hole in corner two is outside of the normal line of cornering, so you won't hit it unless you are riding...um...weird."
The race started out freakin' slow, unlike the other days. After a lap, we were going so slow that I was getting nervous, so I went to the front to up the pace. I didn't even attack, I just kind of rrrrrrolled off the front and got a big gap. After the Sheboygan crit, though, I wasn't interested in soloing off the front, so I waited for them to catch back up. Gopher Wheelwoman SB had a good attack and finally the pace got going a little. On about the third or fourth lap, I was sitting in the front third of the pack, and I heard someone yell "on the left" (trying to warn the field that there was someone else attacking) and I looked over and saw Stratton rocketing up the outside edge. One girl went with her, and then Barb and I went to the front of the field to block a little. They had quite a gap and held off the field for almost two laps before everyone caught them. Pretty soon GW SB attacked yet again, and was joined by a couple strong girls, including this one. GW KM was up at the front blocking for SB, and pretty soon someone else attacked and KM followed them up to the others. I was watching closely to see what people were thinking - were we going to chase? Then I noticed the two GW women off the back of the break getting pulled back in - but the other three still had a good gap. I decided that could be the winning break, so I gunned it and bridged up to them. That was NOT easy. I didn't bring anyone with me though, so I was hopeful it might stick. Then I looked back half a lap later and saw a couple girls a little off the front of the group, trying to bridge up to us... there was a bit of reshuffling as a couple more girls latched on, and a couple fell off, and soon we ended up with a group of 7 girls working well together in a solid break off the front. Nice!
Everyone was really strong and working well together, and we nailed it. Fortunately, my heart rate monitor wasn't working, because I probably would have freaked out if I had seen my heart rate. Out of the 7 girls in the break, I was probably struggling the most, but I was just happy to be there. I almost fell off quite a few times, but I kept telling myself, "Yes, this really sucks, and it hurts, but it will suck even MORE if you let yourself drop off the break. Because then you'll still be in 7th place, but riding all by yourself until the field catches you again." I really really didn't want to get caught in that no man's land. So I managed to hang on. After what seemed like forever, but was probably only about 15-20 laps, we lapped the field! The third time I've lapped the field this year! (although this time I had a ton of help). After we reintegrated with the field, most of the girls that were in the break moved to the front and kept on working. There wasn't much left of the field - there was quite a bit of attrition due to the wicked high pace. In the end, we all came around the last couple of laps together, and I managed to come in OK in the final sprint -- about 10th in the field ahead of two of the girls that were in the break with me, for 5th place overall! I was definitely psyched with that!
For our last night here, we booked a swanky hotel, so I just got out of the jacuzzi, and now I'm going to take a little nap before we head downtown to watch the P/1/2 race at Downer Ave. Pictures coming soon. And I'm out.
posted by karla at 4:10 PM
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