Since most race reports are pretty self involved anyways, I thought I'd go whole hog and do a little stream of consciousness for the first NRC race of the season. For a more comprehensive race report, check out Wendy's blog: http://plain-jane-ramblings.blogspot.com/
Here goes...
Crap. I missed the race to the line. What's that? Joe Jefferson is doing call ups and is showing the local teams some love. Pardon me….I must be in the front row!
And the whistle blows…
Must stay forward. Must stay forward. Must stay forward.
The field is strung out going as fast as we can. Two riders are up the road, and there goes Laura Van Gilder accelerating away to catch them. For a second the daydream of following her wheel seems like a good idea. Nope. Would pop in 2 seconds. She has a secret power booster somewhere.
Just focus on the wheel in front of you. Must hold wheel. Must hold wheel. Must hold wheel. The field is blowing apart! But I'm still in it! Move around gapped riders. In the zone.
This sucks! I hate this! I hate this! I hate this!
Here goes...
Crap. I missed the race to the line. What's that? Joe Jefferson is doing call ups and is showing the local teams some love. Pardon me….I must be in the front row!
And the whistle blows…
Must stay forward. Must stay forward. Must stay forward.
The field is strung out going as fast as we can. Two riders are up the road, and there goes Laura Van Gilder accelerating away to catch them. For a second the daydream of following her wheel seems like a good idea. Nope. Would pop in 2 seconds. She has a secret power booster somewhere.
Just focus on the wheel in front of you. Must hold wheel. Must hold wheel. Must hold wheel. The field is blowing apart! But I'm still in it! Move around gapped riders. In the zone.
This sucks! I hate this! I hate this! I hate this!
How many more laps? Crap. 25.
I hate this! I hate this! I hate this!
Whoever is driving this train is strong! Stronger than me. But I can hang on.
Whoever is driving this train is strong! Stronger than me. But I can hang on.
I hate this! I hate this! I hate this!
Is that my dad yelling?
I hate this! I hate this! I hate this!
My parents are probably wondering "Why is our daughter doing this? Why couldn't she just be having kids by now? What the hell is going on? Oh well. Go!"
I hate this! I hate this! I hate this!
The break of 3 riders is gone. Only 10-12 of us are left in this chase group. Local rider Susanna Matsen (LSV) is one of the drivers of the train along with Aaron’s, Colavita, etc. The other local rider in the group is Heidi Goldberg (Kenda). Juice Plus and Advil have teammates in the break so they aren't helping...though they are attacking and causing painful surges. I am the caboose and have been no help whatsoever. Though I haven’t yet puked or pooped on anyone so they should be grateful.
A wall of screaming people as we go through the start/finish. That's cool!
Move to the front. I’m helping… really. OK enough of that. It's too hard up there. Much easier to follow wheels.
Crap. Lapped riders keep mixing in our little group. Must get around them. Why aren't they getting pulled?
Finally, it slows down. Can start focusing on the finish.
8 laps to go and the fantasy of sprinting for 4th is burst - 15 riders swarm our little group out of nowhere! Where did all these people come from? We’ve been caught by a chase group from behind as well as a few lapped riders. Who is who?
I hate sprinting out of large groups. I'm going to go for it with 2 laps to go.
There’s Wendy. She was in the group that caught us. Comforting to have a teammate! Words of encouragement. A voice (Wendy’s) says to “move up”. Thank you. Yes. Will do.
2 laps to go and way too far back not to mention the field is moving too fast. So much for the grand plan.
“Move up."
Finally the finish…25 riders sprinting for 4th. Is that a lapped rider in the middle of corner 3? YIKES!
"Move up."
Going around the final corner I'm not in the front, but Lorena Candrian(HPC) is right in front of me and Susanna Matsen (LSV) in front of her. Maybe I can pass them before the finish line? Must stand up. Don’t sit down! Don’t sit down! Nope. Not going to catch the riders in front of me. But there goes Sarah Caravella (Tibco) blowing past at twice the speed and passing all of us. She must have that power booster.
Crossed the line. 10 riders in front of me in the sprint. Quick math. 10 +3 in the break. 14th!
Not bad. Actually really happy with it.
I love racing! I love racing! I love racing!
CycleLife Results: Leslie 14th, Wendy 23rd, Michelle – lived to race another day.
Is that my dad yelling?
I hate this! I hate this! I hate this!
My parents are probably wondering "Why is our daughter doing this? Why couldn't she just be having kids by now? What the hell is going on? Oh well. Go!"
I hate this! I hate this! I hate this!
The break of 3 riders is gone. Only 10-12 of us are left in this chase group. Local rider Susanna Matsen (LSV) is one of the drivers of the train along with Aaron’s, Colavita, etc. The other local rider in the group is Heidi Goldberg (Kenda). Juice Plus and Advil have teammates in the break so they aren't helping...though they are attacking and causing painful surges. I am the caboose and have been no help whatsoever. Though I haven’t yet puked or pooped on anyone so they should be grateful.
A wall of screaming people as we go through the start/finish. That's cool!
Move to the front. I’m helping… really. OK enough of that. It's too hard up there. Much easier to follow wheels.
Crap. Lapped riders keep mixing in our little group. Must get around them. Why aren't they getting pulled?
Finally, it slows down. Can start focusing on the finish.
8 laps to go and the fantasy of sprinting for 4th is burst - 15 riders swarm our little group out of nowhere! Where did all these people come from? We’ve been caught by a chase group from behind as well as a few lapped riders. Who is who?
I hate sprinting out of large groups. I'm going to go for it with 2 laps to go.
There’s Wendy. She was in the group that caught us. Comforting to have a teammate! Words of encouragement. A voice (Wendy’s) says to “move up”. Thank you. Yes. Will do.
2 laps to go and way too far back not to mention the field is moving too fast. So much for the grand plan.
“Move up."
Finally the finish…25 riders sprinting for 4th. Is that a lapped rider in the middle of corner 3? YIKES!
"Move up."
Going around the final corner I'm not in the front, but Lorena Candrian(HPC) is right in front of me and Susanna Matsen (LSV) in front of her. Maybe I can pass them before the finish line? Must stand up. Don’t sit down! Don’t sit down! Nope. Not going to catch the riders in front of me. But there goes Sarah Caravella (Tibco) blowing past at twice the speed and passing all of us. She must have that power booster.
Crossed the line. 10 riders in front of me in the sprint. Quick math. 10 +3 in the break. 14th!
Not bad. Actually really happy with it.
I love racing! I love racing! I love racing!
CycleLife Results: Leslie 14th, Wendy 23rd, Michelle – lived to race another day.
Other Notable MABRA results: Susanna Matsen (LSV) 12th, Lorena Candrian (HPC) 13th, Jenette Williams (HPC) 15th, Sonja Evers (Joe’s) 17th, Heidi Goldberg (Kenda) 18th.
Oh yeah and the podium results: Laura McCaughey (Juice Plus) 1st, Jennifer McRae (Advil) 2nd, Laura Van Gilder (Cheerwine) 3rd.
End Note...The parents ended up not being there. So I don't know who was yelling at corner 4, but he sounded a lot like my dad.
End Note...The parents ended up not being there. So I don't know who was yelling at corner 4, but he sounded a lot like my dad.
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