The high is gone

I went into this weekend on a high from winning the Thursday night race at PR but it didn't last long as I got my butt handed to me all weekend long. I had a blast racing this weekend though, so although I'm a tad disappointed in my results I still had tons of fun! I had two races this weekend, so this might be a long post.

I headed to Redmond for Derby Days on Saturday and barely got into the race. Can you believe the Women's Cat 4 field had 35 riders? Awesome! The course was great and the city even pulled up some turtles for us to make the roads safer. This race was FAST! I felt great and I think I managed to hang somewhere mid-pack for the first 10 minutes or so. The 80+ weather made for a warm race and after the first lap I was taking every opportunity I could to try to quickly sneak water on the straightaways since my throat was practically stuck shut. Drinking during a crit is a bit sketchy I think.

Somewhere about midway through the race we had a small crash involving two women in the field. I'm not entirely sure what happened but a few riders in front of me slowed down and pretty soon I was gapped from the field. Zqwan was at the race cheering me on and said that at one point I was probably 10 feet behind the main pack. He was screaming at me to get my ass up there and I just didn't do it. I chased with about 4 other girls but after a few more laps we got pulled. Damn! I was quite surprised when the official pulled us because I really didn't think we were that far behind. At least I learned from the Enumclaw crit and early in the race I paid attention when someone in front of me was faltering and I made sure to get around them and stick to the pack. Zqwan was convinced that if I had bridged that final gap I would have stuck to the end. One of these days I will learn to bridge a gap -- damn!

The Zoka guys tore it up at Redmond and we got a 2nd place finish and a ton of primes. I hung out and watched the guys race for quite a while and unfortunately witnessed way too many crashes. Man those are brutal. I'm glad most everyone was ok and just had road rash and some minor injuries.

On Sunday I headed to Ravensdale for the Starbucks RR not fully knowing what to expect from my legs since I raced at Redmond. I was surprised the turnout for the Cat 4 field was so small. We had 13 women show...4 from TGH, 2 from Wines, 2 from Byrne, 2 Ti, 1 from WAR, 1 unattached I think, and myself. The race started with a 2-mi neutral rollout and then the pace picked up a tad from there but it was pretty mellow for a while.

We had a great solid pack today and no sketchy riders at all. A few girls up front pushed the pace on some of the rollers but I had no trouble sticking to the pack. Most of the race up until 'The Wall' was pretty uneventful except for a deer that ran across in front of us and a girl from Ti that took a turn way wide and ended up in the gravel. Thankfully she kept her wits about her and managed not to go down and got back into the pack.

A few miles before the big hill climb there was a small attack that ended up stringing out the field. Four of us got blown off the back so we started working together to chase back on and with that hard effort I started to notice that my legs weren't feeling as fresh as I'd hoped. When we finally chased back on we turned the corner for the hill climb so we had no recovery time.

The hill was definitely steep but it wasn't nearly as impossible I had imagined. There was a photographer at the top so what better motivation do you need to make it - haha! I got up the hill and even managed to pass a few girls on the last pitch to the top. The pack really took off once they were over and I just couldn't recover to get going and that was the last time I saw them. I was screaming at myself to get up there and chase back on but my heartrate was pushing 200 and I just couldn't will myself to get moving.

Chris from Byrne hooked up with me and there were two TGH riders about 50 yards ahead of us but we couldn't make up ground to get to them. Both of us raced Redmond and were just popped. We kept trying but weren't making up any ground and then soon the TGH riders disappeared. It's too bad we couldn't reach them because I was told they ended up chasing back on. Chris and I ended up riding the remaining 10 miles or so to the finish together. It was nice to have some company at least! Neither of us have been riding long so maybe one day we'll both have a pack finish in a road race. We reminded each other it takes time and we're both improving.

I hung with the pack 17 miles until 'The Wall' which is longer than I ever have before. I honestly feel like I could have stuck if I hadn't raced in Redmond. I was sooo close to being there today so it motivated me that much more to keep trying. I know I'm making progress and I feel much stronger but I still have a little ways to go yet. I need to get out there and practice pushing up and over hills!

Overall, great weekend of racing! The course at Ravensdale was superb and Redmond was a blast. The Lake Washington Velo Circuit Race series kicks off next Sunday so it looks like I have three more road races to try to get a pack finish. In the meantime I need to regain the use of my legs.