July 4th weekend there was not a lot of racing going on but there was a TBRA road race weekend (in the form of an omnium) going on and it was in Dayton, TN only about 30 miles from home. I haven’t done too much road racing this year so I figured that I might as well give it a try. Most of the team had family/ holiday weekend type obligations but Star, Gina and Paula said they would come out and help me for the road race anyway. I was on my own for the time trial and the crit.
The road race was a 2 lap race, 30 mile loop with a BIG climb (3 miles long) at about 7 miles into the loop. We had a plan. There was one girl that was a threat so we really wanted to control her. MY TEAMMATES ROCK!!! They worked so well to keep me out of the wind. We hit the climb the first time and Paula and I set the pace on the front of the group. It was perfect. After the climbs I again sat at the back and tried to not work. Everything was going PERFECT. Our feed zone personnel did a wonderful job getting all of us bottles at the end of the first lap (thanks Mark and Helen!!) and we were ready to head around for another one when the officials pulled us over. The road was closed due to a horrific crash in a different category. Our race was over. OVER!!??? We had two choices, either decide who just won or go back about ½ mile and sprint for the win. Neither option was ideal but it was hard to argue when someone else was getting a helicopter ride out of there. We decided the sprint for it (I liked that idea… I was a sprinter in a former life). It was a drag race. We started way too early and it was ridiculous. I WON!!! My teammates were a huge help and I was sitting in a great position to win the overall for the weekend. Thanks for coming out.
The time trial was awful. I hate time trials I avoid them at all costs and I do not own a time trial bike or even aero bars. I was going to do it on my road bike full Eddie Merkx style. That isn’t good when my competition was on full tt bikes. Oh well…. It was the most painful thing I have done in a while but I took 3rd. I was still in first overall by one point. Yikes. The crit was going to be interesting….
The crit was really just stupid. It was Sunday at 7:20pm. No one stayed for it except the three of us that were in the hunt for the overall. GREAT. That meant that I was either going to take first of second for the weekend. I had to beat one girl to win. The trick was that the two of them were on the same team. Hmmm. Do I chance it and go for the crit win or do play it conservative and just focus on the overall?? I decided that I was going to go for the overall and mark the girl that was in second. Her teammate attacked and I let her go. It came down to a sprint between the two of us and I took it. Second on the day but I won the weekend!!! Not bad for a girl that doesn’t race the road much anymore. It was a fun weekend. I am excited to race a bunch more road races after the SERC series is over in July.
Thanks again to my teammates. You guys were great this weekend; I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you.
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