"hurricane of pain" - the crits begin - 2008
So the word spread slowly through the grapevine that the crits started last week. Boulder Racing wasn't doing them anymore but CU Cycling picked them up. whew!
I dreaded racing these tho - they hurt so bad. But I threw on the 16t cog and hoped it would be enough, paid my $ and lined up.
Only 8 women lined up. The women that got 1st and 2nd last week kindly moved themselves up to the Womens A race. thanks girls! ;)
I only plan on racing my SS this year - so it's me against the gearies.
Holeshot - lap 1
We started off on a flat straight away and I was able to get the 'holeshot'. I wasn't going balls-to-wall on the first lap - I just wanted to settle into hard-but-maintainable pace so I wouldn't fade in the last lap. I'm thinking each lap was about 5minutes long and it took most of the 1st lap before my breathing became labored. I was feeling pretty good.
me in the lead. I held the lead for the 1st lap.
Crashing is time consuming - lap 2. :(
The Blue Sky rider behind me passed me on the flat straight away at the beginning of the 2nd lap. darn!
I started pushing harder and kept the Blue Sky rider close - staying 1 to 3 seconds back. I felt i could stay with her and try to pass back. I out of the corner of my eye I could see the rider behind me falling back. I figured she was 7 or 8 seconds back. a long time in Short Track time.
Rider 8 seconds back.
Keeping the leader close - I was carrying a bit of speed into a short steep descent into a 90degree left hand turn and washed out my front tire. I'm pretty sure I touched the front brake - a bone-head move on my part.
"f$ck!" - i cried out. i went down hard and fast. I was pissed. It was my own mistake - I quickly tried to hop on my bike but my handlebars were facing the wrong direction. I got off my bike again and straighten the bars out - by this time the girl behind was coming up and I had to step off the trail to let her by.
I heard the girl behind her coming up and I was able to get on my bike and go. But my helmet visor was half hanging off - i just ripped it off my helmet and threw it in the grass and made a mental note to come back and pick it later. I heard the rider behind me, Julie, breathing down my neck. I was still a bit discombobulated from my crash and on the next straight away Julie and the 2 lead juniors passed me.
My friend, Phil got this shot of me getting passed.
Gaining back 3rd place - lap 3
I knew if I wanted to podium I'd have to pass Julie back quickly and go balls-to-the-wall for the last 2 laps.
As you can see in this pic - I'm close to her starting the 3rd lap.
On the front flat straight away - i spun like a hamster and passed her.
But she was close on my tail. As you can see from these pics how close she was to me and by my face you can see I was giving it all i had.
on my tail
Julie staying close
I can't shake her
Pedal to the metal - lap 4
I was suffering in lap 4 trying to maintain my pace. I was spinning as fast as I could on the flats.
spinning away.
I slowly started widening the gap - but not by much. I knew i couldn't let up one bit.
I caught up to one of the juniors that passed me...he was going slow enough for me to rest a bit but too fast for me to pass. I urged him on "GO! GO! GO!" Then he'd speed up...a little while later he'd let up and I'd holler "GO! GO! GO!". Dave and Phil said they heard me talking to him. I hope I didn't piss him off.
here I'm putting a little bit of a gap on Julie and hollering at the junior ;)
I was cranking and keeping my lead.
I was relieved when i crossed the finish line in 3rd place. Phil got this little video of me in the last turn and crossing the finish. whew!
Aftermath
oh man - I was hurting after that race - I had to spin my legs out for about 10 -15 minutes before I started feeling human again. Julie is new to the area - so I'm sure once she's used to the altitude she'll be even tougher to race against. It's always fun to have someone at your level to battle it out with...so thanks to her for pushing me so hard.
And thanks to Wesley and Michele for moving up! ;)
thanks to Phil for getting shots of the action and Dave and all my friends for cheering for me.
i'm glad that's over with.
I woke up this morning with a stiff neck from my crash and some dirt rash on my arm. I think I'm gonna need a new helmet too. :(
I'll have to miss the next one as I'll be in Seattle - but i'll be back! ;)
I dreaded racing these tho - they hurt so bad. But I threw on the 16t cog and hoped it would be enough, paid my $ and lined up.
Only 8 women lined up. The women that got 1st and 2nd last week kindly moved themselves up to the Womens A race. thanks girls! ;)I only plan on racing my SS this year - so it's me against the gearies.
Holeshot - lap 1
We started off on a flat straight away and I was able to get the 'holeshot'. I wasn't going balls-to-wall on the first lap - I just wanted to settle into hard-but-maintainable pace so I wouldn't fade in the last lap. I'm thinking each lap was about 5minutes long and it took most of the 1st lap before my breathing became labored. I was feeling pretty good.
me in the lead. I held the lead for the 1st lap.
Crashing is time consuming - lap 2. :(
The Blue Sky rider behind me passed me on the flat straight away at the beginning of the 2nd lap. darn!
I started pushing harder and kept the Blue Sky rider close - staying 1 to 3 seconds back. I felt i could stay with her and try to pass back. I out of the corner of my eye I could see the rider behind me falling back. I figured she was 7 or 8 seconds back. a long time in Short Track time.
Rider 8 seconds back.
Keeping the leader close - I was carrying a bit of speed into a short steep descent into a 90degree left hand turn and washed out my front tire. I'm pretty sure I touched the front brake - a bone-head move on my part.
"f$ck!" - i cried out. i went down hard and fast. I was pissed. It was my own mistake - I quickly tried to hop on my bike but my handlebars were facing the wrong direction. I got off my bike again and straighten the bars out - by this time the girl behind was coming up and I had to step off the trail to let her by.
I heard the girl behind her coming up and I was able to get on my bike and go. But my helmet visor was half hanging off - i just ripped it off my helmet and threw it in the grass and made a mental note to come back and pick it later. I heard the rider behind me, Julie, breathing down my neck. I was still a bit discombobulated from my crash and on the next straight away Julie and the 2 lead juniors passed me.
My friend, Phil got this shot of me getting passed.
Gaining back 3rd place - lap 3
I knew if I wanted to podium I'd have to pass Julie back quickly and go balls-to-the-wall for the last 2 laps.
As you can see in this pic - I'm close to her starting the 3rd lap.
On the front flat straight away - i spun like a hamster and passed her.
But she was close on my tail. As you can see from these pics how close she was to me and by my face you can see I was giving it all i had.
on my tail
Julie staying close
I can't shake her
Pedal to the metal - lap 4
I was suffering in lap 4 trying to maintain my pace. I was spinning as fast as I could on the flats.
spinning away.
I slowly started widening the gap - but not by much. I knew i couldn't let up one bit.
I caught up to one of the juniors that passed me...he was going slow enough for me to rest a bit but too fast for me to pass. I urged him on "GO! GO! GO!" Then he'd speed up...a little while later he'd let up and I'd holler "GO! GO! GO!". Dave and Phil said they heard me talking to him. I hope I didn't piss him off.
here I'm putting a little bit of a gap on Julie and hollering at the junior ;)
I was cranking and keeping my lead.
I was relieved when i crossed the finish line in 3rd place. Phil got this little video of me in the last turn and crossing the finish. whew!Aftermath
oh man - I was hurting after that race - I had to spin my legs out for about 10 -15 minutes before I started feeling human again. Julie is new to the area - so I'm sure once she's used to the altitude she'll be even tougher to race against. It's always fun to have someone at your level to battle it out with...so thanks to her for pushing me so hard.
And thanks to Wesley and Michele for moving up! ;)
thanks to Phil for getting shots of the action and Dave and all my friends for cheering for me.
i'm glad that's over with.
I woke up this morning with a stiff neck from my crash and some dirt rash on my arm. I think I'm gonna need a new helmet too. :(
I'll have to miss the next one as I'll be in Seattle - but i'll be back! ;)
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