Superweek - Day 6

Superweek – Day 6
Friday, July 24th
Cat 3/4 Women: Chase Food Folks & Spokes Crit (Kenosha, WI)
Approx 20 miles, 22 mph average

I had done this same course last year. This was a very fast and flat 4 corner course. This course is a lot of fun because there is a carnival/festival in the middle of the course with lots of spectators and good energy. There were some, but not nearly as many attacks today. I was in the top 10 wheels toward the beginning of the race and less than 5 laps in, a girl in front of me takes herself out (slides out) on the outside of corner 2 and I narrowly avoid running over her head by an inch or two! I had to work hard to lower my heart rate after that! And, it really shook me up for a while. After that I had a really hard time positioning myself up closer to the front. I just felt like I was not mentally in the game. After fighting my way up toward the front, I would easily give up my position and end up back in the mid/back of the pack again. On the last two laps I tried even harder, but to no avail. On the final lap the Manitoba girl started moving up on the back side of the course and I jump on her wheel. She won the first day and had not raced every day, so I figured she would be pretty fresh. She moved us up from nearly the back of the pack to the top 15 wheels/mid pack. I wasn’t as far up as I had hoped going into the final turn, but I figured she would be a great lead out for the final sprint. After the final turn, she stands up and starts sprinting; however, about ½ way to the line, she dies and sits down/slows down. I have to react and go around her and all I can do is add gears and sprint as hard as I can. I make up a lot of spots and my legs feel better than anticipated, but I still only end up with 14th. I should have put myself up at the front long before that. I guess that narrowly escaping the crash just shook me up a little? I don’t know what happened today. I hope I can find my mojo before leaving the house tomorrow. I could really use it now!