Bicycle Station Team Pic
After race pic. See my tan lines?
Down hill to the finish. Sweet!
Thanks to Matt L for the pics.
I've been on a high from the Brown County race a couple of weeks ago. With it being one of my top goals for the year, I achieved success. I raced my best and felt good doing so. Following the race, I attended skills camp. Learning good, solid techniques felt very empowering. Upon leaving, I felt I was equipped to go out and gain some seconds here and there.
So, yesterday's race at French Lick didn't go as well as the past couple of weeks. I had a superb start at the line, but when I got in to the singletrack, that LONG, long, long climb began. I thought I could try to hang with the other girls for a little while. I thought I had it in me to minimize the time gap at the finish. I thought the girls behind me would stay behind me. I thought I could push harder. I thought I wouldn't get beaten so badly. I thought I could handle what was thrown at me. I thought I wouldn't get lapped by the pro men. I was wrong on all accounts.
At some point, halfway through the lap?, I knew I had to back off. The peanut butter mud covered rocks were slick, and I was doing some really stupid stuff on the bike. Perhaps I should buy a lottery ticket b/c I didn't crash. But I knew I should back off. So I did.
One by one they passed me--Katherine and Meredith went by. I was off my bike when Meredith came up to me. She asked if I was OK.
"Yeah, I'm bonking." I said. But that wasn't it. I had plenty of food and had eaten well. What's the word? It's something else that's going on--I just couldn't think of what it was. Why did I feel like throwing up? My stomach wasn't that bad earlier. Why did my legs have NOTHING? What was wrong with my lungs?
"I'm not going to finish. I'm pulling out at the lap." I told her. She told me not to.
I was now in last place and Meredith was pulling away. It didn't matter; I wasn't finishing anyway.
I got back on the bike and pedaled some. My HR was down to an acceptable level, and I was riding quite freely now. I caught back up to Mer and started chatting.
"I'm not bonking. I think I overheated." The temp was in the high 90s, I think. For some reason, I felt a need to clarify.
We chatted some more then came upon a Cat 2 Woman rider who had blood all over face. It looked bad. We stopped to check her status. Extremely swollen cheek, cut on her face, pupils seemed fine. She was resolute in wanting to finish the race, which was this lap. However, we told her we would find someone to come back and check on her. She seemed a little shaken but got back on her bike and tried to follow us. We asked her to just take it easy and finish.
While chatting with my teammate, I forgot to pull out of the race at the lap marker. We came around and started that awful climb again, so I decided I would give it another go. This second lap felt good, so I pushed it again trying to back off when I felt bad.
On a double track section, I caught up to Katherine and passed her. With 3-4 miles or so left to go, the pressure was on to stay in front of her. I had to really focus now and try not to blow up.
Success! I finished 4th and had a pretty good 2nd lap. Unfortunately, I lost much time on the girls in front of me when I was hoping to minimize that gap.
Good news: I learned my lesson. I must keep working hard and not let one good race influence my judgment. Conversely, I must keep working hard and not let one bad race influence my attitude. So, I'm more than pleased I kept going and finished strong despite the blow up on my first of 2 laps. As for skills, they didn't come soon enough. I flailed around and am looking forward to some parking lot time to work on drills. Cheryl? When are we going to do that slow race again?
French Lick Course Map lifted from DINO's website.
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