Finally some true 'cross weather - kind of. Rainy and wet, but a little on the humid side (temps ended up hitting into the 70s during the day). We were ready, but where was everyone? Apparently the 'cross weather, and two competing races (one in CT and one in VT) made for small starting fields in all of the races.
We'd heard reports about the Brockton course from last year, so were planning for two things - mud, and lots of technical sections. Mike built up a new "beater bike" for me to use to race, and he was going to break out the KHS single speed he won at the Witches' Cup in August, both outfitted with mud tires. Imagine our surprise then, when we arrived in Brockton to a newly redesigned course that included lots of - PAVEMENT!A preview lap showed a course that was 50% pavement, flat and FAST. This was going to be a crit, with one run-up and one bridge and some fast grassy corners thrown in. I was glad that I wasn't on a single speed (although Mike still finished in 6th place with the SS and a slowly leaking/flat rear tire) ;-).
I lined up with a whopping big Women's Open field of 9 racers. We had a pretty casual atmosphere on the starting line - so casual, that I was busy starting my HRM when the whistle blew! That caused me to go into the run-up second to last. Note to self - PAY ATTENTION! Starts are key, and I blew it. I was angry for missing that, so put the hammer down to try and get around some of the other women, and found myself in 4th position after about a half of a lap. After a dropped chain by Jennifer, I ended up in 3rd, battling back and forth with a racer I later found out was a sophomore in college! On the second to last lap, my teammate Tamela past me, and I mentally quit as she dragged Jennifer and the college racer with her, putting me in 6th place, where ultimately, I finished.My HR was PEGGED for this race - average of 178 bpm with a max of 185! Guess taking some days off this week wasn't necessarily a good thing...
Lessons for me - I need to pay more attention to the starts, and listen to the advice I give others on the team - NEVER quit racing...
1 comment:
Wow! You raced BOTH days! Very nice. Thanks for the pep talk pre race at the line up and your cheering at the run up. I swear I got up that thing faster cause you were screamin' at me to do so. :-)
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