Saturday, I did my race openers in my favorite place, the woods. I head out on my geared mountain bike with the boys and played. It was so much fun. No real goals, just not to over-push myself....which in and of itself can be tough.
90 minutes of woods time was perfect. It was exactly what I needed.
On to Sunday...Mom, aka Mominator, met me at my place and we were out the door by 815A. The women elite race was at noon. I arrived with plenty of time to pre ride the course a few times. The course was typical DCCX-awesomeness. Dry. Fast. Tons of turns and some nice technical turns. Plenty of off cambers. Punchy climbs. And some hard false flat and road power sections.
Saw Heather H before the race and talked her into racing the Singlespeed race at 2p. Why not double up? I had a "buy" weekend coming up :-).
Women's race had some solid competitors in the mix. It was wicked start off the whistle, as usual. I did ok (still need to work on my starts....ah) off the start. I was able to hold on and claim a few positions before finding 10th place. For the remainder of the race, I had 9th in my sights, close. And 11th was yo-yoing off my rear wheel and holding on. We were a solid trio. Great race action within the race.
On the final lap, I knew i wanted to blow out my matchbook and make moves that would stick and get me 9th. I made a move after the start/finish area and took 9th. Our lady friend in front did not like that idea too much and clawed right back in this cat and mouse game to reclaim her spot. I was right there holding strong thinking about the next move.
After the barriers on the far side there is a long sidewalk drag. At the end of that drag you drop off a small curb and fly into a grassy descent. That must have been the place where my race went south. Onward I went still feeling ok. Passed the pit and on the long drag I knew something was wrong...flat. Bah. Right there in that moment, I said goodbye to 10th place and settled into 11th. There was no way I could hold that pace and take turns aggressively when my rear tubular was slopping along. Nothing like riding road or bumpy sections on a rear wheel with zero pounds of pressure. Luckily Webber built me a solid race wheel and it was still spinning true after... on to the story.
The double foul of the day was my idiot self didn't realize the pit was double sided. Yeah, um things to just freaking know, really? yes, really really. Luckily for me I kept 11th to the finish line.
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| My Tillmanator Sister, Amy |
Meanwhile - post-frustration in between races, I hung with fellow team mates recapping the race and hanging with my super cool awesome "running" Tillmanator sister, Amy. So cool to have her there cheering me on. She ended up hanging most of the day and took in the cycling sites -- DCCX was def a mix of "hipsters meet punk rockers" scene. (well said Amy)
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| Photo Credit ~ Carla Williams |
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| Photo Credit ~ Bruce Lindsay (Singlespeed Race) |
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| Mominator, Tillmanator x 2 |
After the singlespeed race, Mom, Amy and I hung out for awhile and enjoyed the amazingly beautiful Fall day.
Sunshine, good friend, family and solid racing. Life is sweet. And in the end, it is just a race.
Special thanks to my favorite PB, Djordje. My crew and I love him!
