Last weekend was a little different than most of my race weekends. After the previous WORS race in Lacrosse, WI I did a little bit of math and figured out that I had the series overall win pretty locked up. That got me thinking... should I race the last WORS race or go, get completely destroyed and race outside my comfort zone at Trek CXC? It didn't take long for me to decide to race at Trek.
Cyclocross for me is a way to stay in shape for Iceman race in November. Cyclocross is not something that I love but is something that makes me laugh (after) and hurt (during and after). I have raced a handful of cyclocross races here in the UP but let me tell you they are WAY different than cyclocross races in WI!
The weekend started out with some beach glass hunting with my friends Brian and Andrea in Sheboygan. Saturday morning we got up slowly and Brian and I rode into downtown to meet up with Andrea at the farmers market! YUMMMMM! After grabbing some apples and kale we rode back to the house and got ready to leave for day 1 of racing! Trek had decided to make the Women's race the premier event of the day, so it didn't start until 4:45! I was thankful for this because I had a lot to learn before my race happened.
Cyclocross for me is a way to stay in shape for Iceman race in November. Cyclocross is not something that I love but is something that makes me laugh (after) and hurt (during and after). I have raced a handful of cyclocross races here in the UP but let me tell you they are WAY different than cyclocross races in WI!
The weekend started out with some beach glass hunting with my friends Brian and Andrea in Sheboygan. Saturday morning we got up slowly and Brian and I rode into downtown to meet up with Andrea at the farmers market! YUMMMMM! After grabbing some apples and kale we rode back to the house and got ready to leave for day 1 of racing! Trek had decided to make the Women's race the premier event of the day, so it didn't start until 4:45! I was thankful for this because I had a lot to learn before my race happened.
The race course was awesome! Steep descents, a huge fly over, jump, run up, and of course plenty of bumpy corn field(so thankful for my Trek Boone). I knew that the descents would be my strong suit but didn't have high hopes for the running parts.
I lined up Saturday in the 4th row of women (only 1 row of with 2 women behind me feeling a little intimidated but ready to give it my all. The officials blew the whistle and we were off! Well the rest of the field was... To me it felt like they blew past me like I was standing still. This was nothing like the starts of the mountain bike races I am used to.
Shortly after, I was feeling pretty good and thought I had found a good rhythm when I looked behind me and only saw one other girl... I was almost in dead last in a 40 women field. That's when I saw Brian and he gave me some words of encouragement as I passed. For the rest of the race I worked at picking some of the women off and some of them picking me off again. Ended the day in 34th place, not super excited but thankful I didn't get lapped.
The next day I was a little more nervous. Even though I didn't have high expectations for cyclocross it is still hard to be on the second page of results. I wanted to do better and knew some places where I could improve.
I lined up Saturday in the 4th row of women (only 1 row of with 2 women behind me feeling a little intimidated but ready to give it my all. The officials blew the whistle and we were off! Well the rest of the field was... To me it felt like they blew past me like I was standing still. This was nothing like the starts of the mountain bike races I am used to.
Shortly after, I was feeling pretty good and thought I had found a good rhythm when I looked behind me and only saw one other girl... I was almost in dead last in a 40 women field. That's when I saw Brian and he gave me some words of encouragement as I passed. For the rest of the race I worked at picking some of the women off and some of them picking me off again. Ended the day in 34th place, not super excited but thankful I didn't get lapped.
The next day I was a little more nervous. Even though I didn't have high expectations for cyclocross it is still hard to be on the second page of results. I wanted to do better and knew some places where I could improve.
The first of which being my start. I needed to be more aggressive than I had ever been. Like one woman told me during the race "this is cyclocross there are going to be elbows!" I had to give it my all so I didn't get too stuck behind people on the first super steep downhill.
Today was MUCH better. Instead of feeling like all of the women were passing me I felt like I was doing some damage! I credit this to being able to see my buddy Abby and wanting to ride with her! Abby has WAY more cyclocross experience than me but is also an AWESOME technical rider. I figured if I could catch her then MAYBE just MAYBE I would be able to ride with her. At about the second lap, right about when I couldn't decide if I was going to puke or not, I caught Abby! I was SO excited! I love riding with Abby! Abby and I rode together for the rest of the race. It is hard to explain my the feelings I had when the officials were ringing the bell for the last lap. I was stuck somewhere between "oh ya one more lap!" and "oh my we have to go around AGAIN?!".
Today was MUCH better. Instead of feeling like all of the women were passing me I felt like I was doing some damage! I credit this to being able to see my buddy Abby and wanting to ride with her! Abby has WAY more cyclocross experience than me but is also an AWESOME technical rider. I figured if I could catch her then MAYBE just MAYBE I would be able to ride with her. At about the second lap, right about when I couldn't decide if I was going to puke or not, I caught Abby! I was SO excited! I love riding with Abby! Abby and I rode together for the rest of the race. It is hard to explain my the feelings I had when the officials were ringing the bell for the last lap. I was stuck somewhere between "oh ya one more lap!" and "oh my we have to go around AGAIN?!".
FINALLY it was the last straight away, Abby on my wheel telling me to go faster because the other girls were going to catch us, and my legs screaming at me saying they couldn't go any faster! Abby made a move at the moment and got me by a hair. It was an incredible race! I think normally I would have been really disappointed to be beat in a sprint finish but I knew that this time it was different. Abby and I had just raced our hearts out and had done everything possible to finish the race. It was awesome. I had hoped of top 25 before I raced Saturday, with that dream crushed pretty hard on Saturday I wasn't sure that it was possible. So when we saw the results I was excited. Abby and I had taken 17th and 18th place respectively in a field of 41 women.
It was a great weekend seeing friends, racing, getting a bike fit from the awesome guys at trek (Ky and Paraic), I couldn't have asked for anymore.