It began with a cheerful drive north with two of my lovely teammates, albeit arriving way past my bedtime. We were able to sleep in a little the next day, however, so it wasn't too bad. On Saturday morning I was able to go through my super-relaxing routine of toast and tea, followed by some more substantial breakfast. It was rainy but the sky cleared as we drove out to Catamount in time to catch most of the women's 3/4 race.
A couple hours before the Elite Women's race I got out on the course for a lap. Ouch. I knew there would be climbing, but ouch. The nice thing was the climbing was in two big chunks, which were followed by fun, fast descents. There were two lung-busting sets of steps, and some nice fast barriers. Despite the rain the night before the course was dry and dusty. I felt good about my warm up, good about the course, and sort of bummed about my last row call up, but it was a position I could only improve upon.
My start was . . . uneven. I got going all right, passed some people, and then seized up. I suspect it's more mental than anything else, but as we hit the first grinding climb I found myself going backwards fast. My legs came around, however, and I was able to pass some pretty big chunks of people within the first lap and a half. Suddenly I heard people yelling at me, "10th place is right there!" I dug, joined a group of 2-3 at one point who were fighting for 8th place. In the end I ended up 10th, despite almost face planting the final time through the barriers.
I had a hard time believing it until I saw it printed in the results. My first UCI top 10! My first UCI point! And the funny thing was, it wasn't any harder than being at the back was last year. In the (paraphrased?) words of Greg LeMond, "It never hurts less, you just go faster."
The usual post-race recovery eating, spinning and rehashing commenced, followed by dinner at the condo and an early bedtime. The next day we were up a bit earlier. It was cold out! 37F isn't really that cold I suppose, except when you're coming off of a hot summer and haven't had time to adjust to the chill. Again I arrived early enough to cheer for the 3/4 women. When we got out on course it initially seemed like it might be easier than Saturday, as we really only had one sustained climb. At race pace, however, the dirt mound you had to ride/run over, the BMX jump you had to ride up, and the incessant accelerations ended up being equally tough.
I had a 2nd row call up, and I positioned myself squarely behind Crystal Anthony, Saturday's winner and former LadiesFirst teammate. And I had the Start Of My Life. By the time we hit the first turn I was 4th wheel, behind Crystal, Sally Annis, and Mo. I wish I could say that I held that position, but I wasn't aggressive enough in the turns, and I ended up having to do the same game of catch-up that I had the day before. Between a couple strong ladies who hadn't raced on Saturday and not having the legs I had the day before, I only managed 15th. In the money! (Because, you know, women's cycling is all about the money....)
Anyway, I'm looking forward to putting more pieces of the puzzle down in the coming weeks. If I'm successful it's because I have amazing support from my team, coach, our awesome race mechanic, and of course my friends and family, many of whom have no idea what a UCI point is but still get excited when I tell them I got one.
Pictures!
With my race wheels on my bike was ridiculously light. Every time I had to lift it I wanted to smile. That's never happened before!
Below you can see evidence of my fantastic start!
Sufferface. This was nearing the top of the climb.
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