Catching up
Lots and lots of racing!
Last Wednesday, I headed down to the Hellyer velodrome for some track racing. Now I remember why I like the track so much. Wednesday night racing has just 3 categories - A, B, and C - they don't separate the women, like I'm used to. So I put myself in C, racing with some of the guys, and a couple other ladies. I was nervous at first, but once the racing started, it was nothing but fun. We had 2 points races, a scratch race, and a miss n out. It felt really good (in retrospect) to be pushed by guys that were solidly stronger than me. At the time, I felt ready to hack up a lung - "track lung" is not limited to Minnesota. It was great. And I clawed my way to 4th place (of 16) in the miss-n-out and the scratch race, and got a couple points in the other races for a 6th in the omnium.
Then, this weekend, Saturday was the Fremont Criterium. It was a fun L-shaped course with a 180 degree turn and lots of wind. My race was a 1/2/3 race (with 3s picked separately), so there were some fast ladies from Proman, Tibco, Metromint, Velo Bella, and some others. We started out fast from the gun and two Proman girls, Shelley Olds and Rachel Lloyd, broke off the front right away. The pace stayed high for the first part of the race as people made attacks off the front, but the field never organized together to mount a good chase. I wasn't feeling great, and there were a couple times that I thought I might get dropped. But I hung in there, and decided to throw out an attack at the beginning of the bell lap to see what would happen, because I didn't feel like I had great legs for the sprint. Here I go:
Photo courtesy of Garrett Lau
I should have tried it about a lap earlier, when people were slightly less on edge. As it happened, I ended up leading out the last lap and getting passed before the line by six or so ladies, ending up 4th in the cat 3s. Ali from Form Fitness won the field sprint for the cat 3 win - she rocked it!
Sunday was the Vacaville crit - what a fun course. It had a nice hill in it, and 8 corners, all different and all fun. I did the 3/4 race and had a great time - lots of solid cat 3 women, and quite a few strong 4s. Lauraleen had a solo break off the front for a few laps, but for the most part, the race stayed together and the pace was low. In the end I rolled across the line in 3rd place.
Tomorrow is the Davis 4th of July crit, and then some more racing action this weekend. And potentially big news soon.
Last Wednesday, I headed down to the Hellyer velodrome for some track racing. Now I remember why I like the track so much. Wednesday night racing has just 3 categories - A, B, and C - they don't separate the women, like I'm used to. So I put myself in C, racing with some of the guys, and a couple other ladies. I was nervous at first, but once the racing started, it was nothing but fun. We had 2 points races, a scratch race, and a miss n out. It felt really good (in retrospect) to be pushed by guys that were solidly stronger than me. At the time, I felt ready to hack up a lung - "track lung" is not limited to Minnesota. It was great. And I clawed my way to 4th place (of 16) in the miss-n-out and the scratch race, and got a couple points in the other races for a 6th in the omnium.
Then, this weekend, Saturday was the Fremont Criterium. It was a fun L-shaped course with a 180 degree turn and lots of wind. My race was a 1/2/3 race (with 3s picked separately), so there were some fast ladies from Proman, Tibco, Metromint, Velo Bella, and some others. We started out fast from the gun and two Proman girls, Shelley Olds and Rachel Lloyd, broke off the front right away. The pace stayed high for the first part of the race as people made attacks off the front, but the field never organized together to mount a good chase. I wasn't feeling great, and there were a couple times that I thought I might get dropped. But I hung in there, and decided to throw out an attack at the beginning of the bell lap to see what would happen, because I didn't feel like I had great legs for the sprint. Here I go:
Photo courtesy of Garrett Lau
I should have tried it about a lap earlier, when people were slightly less on edge. As it happened, I ended up leading out the last lap and getting passed before the line by six or so ladies, ending up 4th in the cat 3s. Ali from Form Fitness won the field sprint for the cat 3 win - she rocked it!
Sunday was the Vacaville crit - what a fun course. It had a nice hill in it, and 8 corners, all different and all fun. I did the 3/4 race and had a great time - lots of solid cat 3 women, and quite a few strong 4s. Lauraleen had a solo break off the front for a few laps, but for the most part, the race stayed together and the pace was low. In the end I rolled across the line in 3rd place.
Tomorrow is the Davis 4th of July crit, and then some more racing action this weekend. And potentially big news soon.
posted by karla at 7:12 PM
4 Comments:
Big news?
KJK,
Big news..hmm...having a kid will affect your racing career..or you are coming back to "the land of 10k lakes?" ..the suspense is killing me!
Julia
Karla, i've got your 8th place prize from San Rafael.
lookin' to give it to you the next time.
m
and Congrats! on your big news!!
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