Playing with the Boys at Greenbelt

So, now "race season" is in full swing. I always know when we're getting into the groove when I pull up to the Greenbelt Races for the first time. Route 1 Velo does a phenomenal job promoting this training series year-in and year-out. Many thanks to them for the time, effort and heart they give in order to give us OCD racers a mid-week interval session. Big shout out to our very own Robin, who officiated the race. Robin took the time to become an official earlier this year, which is super cool. It was great to see a friendly face at the line each lap while we were dying after the hill-interval. I love to see racers giving back to the sport - awesome.

A few ladies lined up with the boys of the "B" race - there were some purple-gals , the velo-chicken, newly minted in C3 colors, our TT specialist, Sara and me. Sonja, being the rockstar that she is, decided to try her legs in the A race.

Things were fast from the get - I put myself in the top 5 or so just to avoid the chaos that is the pack of the B race - and besides, I felt GOOD. After a lap or two, two guys tried to take a flier. I completely lost my head and decided that I had to go get it. I'm a little like a greyhound with the rabbit. It doesn't matter that it makes no sense, if it moves, I'm on it. Anyway, as I dragged the pack, kicking and screaming, up to the break, I thought - hm, I might pay for that in a little while. But thankfully, I was able to sit in near the front of the pack and recover before things got animated again.

Quite a few ABRT guys were in the field, which was fun since we like to play with them (being friends and former teammates). Matt took a great flyer for a couple of laps followed by an awesome counter by Lance, who stayed out a few more laps. I was sitting pretty, top 5 or top 10 at all times and thinking, hey ... this is kinda fun ! Unfortunately, our fun was interrupted by a rider who hit the pothole on the fast downhill and took out Sara. Have no fear, Sara has some cool road rash (only cool if its not yours) but she's alright - and yes, her bike made it out unscathed. Thatta girl- take the road rash, save the bike !!

We came around for the last of our 17 laps and I was in decent position, but I sat up as the sprint started. Still not entirely comfortable sprinting with the boys. All in all, the race had a fairly good pace and I have a feeling that we'll get faster as everyone finds their race-legs. Thanks to all the guys and gals that made this a relatively safe event and a great workout - and thanks for all the support and good vibes after the race - you are too good to this kid !