What a great weekend in Lawrence, KS!
Saturday was the circuit race through the KC campus. It was an approx 4 mile twisty, hilly loop through the campus and the Cat 3/4 women had to do 3 laps. I was a little surprised that we did not have more laps, and while I did not mind it terribly, I expected this would make for an aggressive race. However, it really wasn't. There was a natural peeling off of some racers over the race on the hills. A Threads.com girl (Roberta Smith) from Denver was on the front for a lot of the race. I held my position in the top 4 or 5 throughout the race because of all of the corners and hills. I didn't want to get taken by surprise and was on the defensive for an attack...but it never came.
Well, not until the last hill to the finish on the final lap of the race. Going into the last hill, there were probably a few more than 10 of the 30 left together. I saw Roberta pushing the pace and Carol Flinchbaugh (Free State Racing) holding her wheel. I spin up the legs and pull in behind Carol. There is a long windy stretch to the finish once you crest the hill and I figured 3rd wheel is just where I needed to be. However, Carol looses Roberta's wheel and a gap quickly forms that I don't think I can cover without dying before the finish. I stay on Carol and when we get to the top I look back and realize that we have a major gap on the rest of the group! I can't make up the gap to Roberta, so I just sit on Carol's wheel as I can tell she is dying...and at approx 150 meters, I jump and sprint around her to take 2nd! I wonder how it would have played out if I had been on Roberta's wheel??! She did a lot of work, and definitely earned her win! Still, I'm very happy with 2nd!
(teammates: Cat Ebling, me, and Suzanne Woodard)Sunday was a crit in downtown Lawrence. It was cooler but very humid as rain was in the forecast. Another lucky day for the womens 3/4 field...it was dry! This course was a fairly flat figure eight course. I actually had never raced on a figure 8 crit course before...boy was it FUN! The corners were fast and open enough that you could pedal through them if on the front. Me and my teammate talked to a couple of other racers to set something up together. Now rarely in a womens 3/4 race do you have a plan going in and then actually have that plan come to fruition! But, oh how I love it when a plan comes together (well, mostly)!!! The first lap was hot out of the gate, you could feel the excitement from the other racers. The crowds were awesome and lining the streets. It was a great day for a bike race! Then, first time through the start/finish and they ring the bell for a prime. The field doesn't let up. Aubree (Tulsa Tough) gets the prime in a sprint! The pace continues to stay high...someone tries to take a flier...we pull them back....another...we pull them back...it starts to slow down after we pull them in and I jump for another counter attack w/ Aubree in tow!
(deep in the pain cave!)We haul it and get a 7 sec, 12 sec, 16 sec gap on the field. We hold around 10-16 sec for most of the race. We were only 12 mins into a 40 min race when we went! Aubree has got some power in those legs! Im turning myself inside out to work with her and hold off the field. Im DEEP into my pain cave and giving it everything. At 4 laps to go I hear Aubree say they are catching us and should we sit up...I say no, and try to push it for a little while longer, but look back and realize its inevitable. There were a couple really strong 3-4 person teams doing a lot of work to bring us back and on top that, they gave the field 2 primes in a row at the end of the race which motivated them as well. I thought we could hold them off... Oh well.
I soft pedal and try to tuck into the pack and "recover" the best I can with only 4 to go! Another prime lap is called at 3 to go! OMG! Hang on Jamie! Aubree has something left and goes for it and gets another prime!! Wow! She gets a gap on the field and I think she might hold it...but she gets reeled back in. With only 2 laps to go, I move myself up and get in a better position. I find a decent position and we fly through the final corner and I give it everything. I hear someone bump and go down and just go for the finish. I can see that Ill be able to reel in 3rd place and get around the wheel in front of me! YES! 3rd! I cant breathe for about 10 mins. We averaged around 23 mph for that race and I later learn that I averaged my highest average HR ever in a race! Damn. No wonder that hurt so bad.
After the race, we celebrate our plan coming together and the fun we had. All of the women comment on what a fun race it was. And it was. It was aggressive, had a good sized field, it was mostly safe (aside from the one crash at the final sprint) and we all had fun beating up on each other! Everyone is all smiles! Another podium finish for me. I'm very happy with those performances! :)
(photo cred to Elizabeth Rangel for the awesome action shots!!)
