Well, a lot of the time I think I have a little good luck angel by my side. I think she was on vacation this weekend but that's okay because she does a pretty good job most of the time..
Time Trial - If you've spent much time with me you've witnessed 2 things: I am REALLY awful with directions & I can get really intense about a few certain things (racing being one). I felt pretty good going into the weekend, still haven't put many miles on my TT bike yet, but there'll be plenty of time for that when I start Ironman training (May). I pre-rode the 3 mile TT course twice. Got really focused as the clocked beeped down the seconds to my start time, took off....and turned right into some yellow "police do not cross this line" tape (I know...after riding the course twice...who does that??). Whoops. I had about 25 more yards to go until my real turn. Slowed down my time trial quite a bit as it was only 3 miles..but I rode those 3 miles hard and got in a good little interval training. I'll pay more attention to where I'm going and not just how hard next time.
It was good to see Robert back racing after a tough month being sick & Chad did his usual rockin TT ride. Drew really impressed me with a 26+ mph average for the TT too!!
Crit - this race had at least 15 women & was fast & fun. Lots of attacks. Most of the time I just sat in & let the bigger teams work. I covered one break that had one girl from each of 2 well represented teams in it that I thought would be strong. Attacked next to last lap but got caught pretty quickly & then was counter-attacked (I think that's the right terminology...). Didn't make it happen in the end, but Robert's wife, Betty Jean pounded it out for a strong 3rd in the 3/4 category in her first criterium race of the year...hats off to her, she's a natural!
Road Race - wellllll....good luck angel I'm ready for you to come back! The women (of which there were at least 12-15 again - enough for our own race) started with the 40 or so cat 5 men. Big group, me in the back.... You can figure out how it ended up. I chased with the peloton in sight hard for over an hour with several other women and a couple of men. Couldn't ever quite bridge the gap...it was very frustrating, but I got some good work in my legs. The Union City course was fun however & our guys all did really well. Trey finished high in the top 10, but I thought he was going to win it for a second there. Ron finished strong in his RR. Drew, Jake & John all looked fresh rolling in with the peloton from their 75 mile Pro 1/2 ride. Good job Team Neuro!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
Albany Crit & RR
Crit - OUCH! Well, I learned from last weekends' racing and was more aggressive. Maybe a little too aggressive considering the rain. 6 women for the 1/2/3 race start. 2 team-mates from the LG Elite team counter attacked until 2 riders got dropped and we went pretty steady for the 40 minute race. I attacked the next to the last lap just to give it a go since I felt good, but the group caught me after a short bit. I settled back in to recover and gunned it around 2 of the girls going into the next to the last turn. Kept my speed up into the last corner and SCHWAM! my wheels went out from under me. Maybe the wet road had something to do with it, I'll never really know, but it wasn't an awful crash, although apparently I knocked down a barrier. Got up & finished 4th so the 2 riders we dropped didn't have time to catch up. Got doctored up...won $55, spent $33 on first aid supplies at Walgreen's, just enough left over for dinner! I've had worse and I was mad about missing out on my sprint finish, so I was ready for the RR!
Road Race - Had about 20 or so girls at the start, with the 3/4 race & the 1/2/3 race combined. We had to wait close to an hour in the cold wind for the pro 1/2s to come in (go jake & john!!) before we could go, but finally got rolling and got warm fast!! The same 2 team mates from the crit kept attacking, I & some other women bridged several times & nothing stuck, partly because of the weird wind. I focused on keeping a quick cadence when I thought someone was going to attack so that I could go with them & it worked much better than when I was bogged down in Greenville. Also worked on staying more towards the front of the pack. Group mainly stayed together & with 1K to go it got hot. I marked a girl's wheel who I know is strong and moved up to the front with her. When she went just out from 200m I went. Slight uphill finish and I held on for 3rd (2nd 1/2/3, 3rd overall). Legs felt good & ready to race some more!! Perry TT then Union City up next!
LC
Road Race - Had about 20 or so girls at the start, with the 3/4 race & the 1/2/3 race combined. We had to wait close to an hour in the cold wind for the pro 1/2s to come in (go jake & john!!) before we could go, but finally got rolling and got warm fast!! The same 2 team mates from the crit kept attacking, I & some other women bridged several times & nothing stuck, partly because of the weird wind. I focused on keeping a quick cadence when I thought someone was going to attack so that I could go with them & it worked much better than when I was bogged down in Greenville. Also worked on staying more towards the front of the pack. Group mainly stayed together & with 1K to go it got hot. I marked a girl's wheel who I know is strong and moved up to the front with her. When she went just out from 200m I went. Slight uphill finish and I held on for 3rd (2nd 1/2/3, 3rd overall). Legs felt good & ready to race some more!! Perry TT then Union City up next!
LC
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