I just want to start out with how
incredibly FUN the race weekend was!!! The food was incredible (nutritious and
delicious), the 6 hour long car ride on the way back probably generated to most
laughter/time interval in my entire life, there was so much green and so many
hills, and I was so inspired by watching all my teammates race and hearing the
cheering squads while I raced.
This was my first time racing road
and I had no idea what to expect or how the whole weekend schedule would turn
out. I was excited for sure and didn’t really feel any pressure, but it was
still something new and I was like ‘three
races in one weekend…?’
The road
race started off at a reasonable pace, just cruising down the road while the
field sorted itself out. Then we hit the first hill and I make the rookiest
move, dropping a chain while shifting, and then somehow found myself unable to
shift it back on. So I hopped off my bike quick, fixed the chain and got back
on just in time to follow the last rider up the hill before the follow car
caught up. I put out a hard effort then to catch back up to the lead group,
knowing that I couldn’t let them get away and it would be easier once I caught
up and could draft again. Once with the lead group, we hung together mostly
until the big hill in the middle of the lap and I realized how stressful it is
to race in a pack of other people. You never know when they might make a move or
if you’re in a good position. And just being surrounded by other riders of
questionable handling skills kept me constantly on the alert. As we reached the
climb, girl from ID struck out off the front and I followed. I didn’t manage to
quite keep up, but I kept her in sight up the winding ascent, kept up a good
pace and I think even started to reel her in by the end of the climb. She
reached the downhill ahead of me and I never really saw her after that. (It was
downhill all the way to the finish line except for the last short steep punch.)
I felt good after the race though and finished 2nd so that was
awesome.
Later that day, about 40 minutes
before the start of the TTT, I decided I’d better get up from my huddled
position in the trailer and start getting ready. It turns out that sitting or
standing in the damp and the cold for hours isn’t a great strategy for staying
warm so the TTT was a great excuse to work up a little body heat. Molly, Luke
and Alberto all have plenty more to say about this particular TTT ;) but I will
remark that while I’m told TTT’s are supposed to be flat, this one experience would
lead me to believe otherwise..
I was
probably the most nervous for the crit the next day, but it ended up being the
icing on the cake (if I ate cake and liked icing). I started out by positioning
myself near the front, paying attention to the speeding up that was happening
near the start/finish line. When a prime lap came up, instead of fighting the
lead girl for the points, I just followed her at a slightly more reasonable
output of energy and then sprinted around her as soon as she started slowing
down. When I looked back after the corner, she wasn’t right behind me so I put
my head down and basically time trialed the rest of the way in to a solo win.
A HUGE thanks
to everyone who contributed to making this past race weekend happen and to
those who keep the entire team running, especially Molly and Luke-I don’t know
how they do it, but I’m impressed! Looking forward to the next race weekend,
which is coming up real quick. Thanks
for reading!!
Mackinzie
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