Bubba #3: Hwy Farty Far Bubba

I had the most incredible experience today. I was coached pre-race by Steve Tilford. Chuck arranged for him to come through on his way home from Berryman. I learned a lot from Steve and now need to work on drilling and implementing.

Steve rode two laps of the course with me pre-race. I learned how to ride over the railroad tie that was on the first part of the course. I did it a couple of times during the warm up, but didn't feel confident enough to try during the race. He also gave me a tip on cornering, telling me to pedal the whole way through...not instinctive for me as a crit racer. We rode the rest of the course to the barriers. There were three oddly spaced ones on a slight uphill. Steve gave me a dismounting tip of holding the top bar instead of the hoods and then we worked on remounting. I am moving forward when I remount now, but I am adding an extra hop in when swing my leg onto the saddle.

So the race . . .
The course today was one for which I was well-suited. Lots of long straights needing power, little to no technical portions and about two miles in length. The ground was hard and bumpy and there were lots of sections with high grass. Around 24 women lined up with eight or nine of us in the A race. (We had a contigent go to Louisville for the US Grand Prix). I was strong off the start and was in fifth. I moved up to fourth on the first dirt straight. By the end of the second lap, I had fallen into seventh. I jumped in my big ring as I turned onto the start/finish straight and worked at making up ground. I was back onto Alice and Amy B's wheel and I tried to shift into the small ring so that I could spin though the high grass and long slow climbs. I dropped my chain and got impatient trying to back pedal and hopped off to get it back on. I lost the wheels and never made it back to them. Lap 4 I came up on Stephanie M. and Liz on the first straight. At that point, I had no idea how I had caught them, I just knew I need to get them. Steph is a teammate, so I close to her and offered my wheel. She said she was spent and offered to pull me up. I took her wheel and waited for the opportunity in the high grass to pass. I got it and went. I made the left for the long stretch to the back of the course. I didn't know Liz was coming on my inside. Before I knew it, I was over my bars in the tall grass with Liz and her bike on top of me. It was an amicable crash with both of us checking on the other. We both got up and took off. I rode her wheel as much as I could. She gained a little ground on me on the barriers. (Steve told me the last time over was my best but still not good). I went as hard as I could to catch her. We turned onto the long paved uphill before the turn to the start finish. I sat up, adjusted my gearing and spun myself past Liz. I knew she would take my wheel and tried to gap her, but she still had something left. We turned onto the start finish and I was out of the saddle sprinting as hard as I could. I heard Liz pull to my right and the crowd yelling at us. She pushed her bike and got me on the line. I ended up in 5th.

I worked with Steve on remounting after the race as well. I know I need to put what I learned into practice now.

I found out after the race that Steph M had fallen back because she was cooked from Berryman yesterday. Liz had lost count of the laps, sprinted against a B racer, and pulled off the course only to realize there was still a lap to go. I'll still take a top five finish anyway I can get it.

My picture today comes from the Men's C race. I was watching with Steve, wondering where Klucker had gone. A few minutes later I got my answer. He come walking up, pushing his bike with his bars in two. He hadn't crashed, they simply broke. It may have been a left over from last weekend's dump in the gravel. Steve's take is that you shouldn't ride carbon bars in cx anywhere. It'll be off to the Big Shark for Klucker today . . . new bars and tape. This sport gets expensive very quickly.

(You'll note there is no photo for this post. I wrote my text after taking this shot and waited to upload. I uploaded three days worth of shots and came to the blog to post. When I went to look for the shots, my computer wasn't recognizing my flash drive where my photos were saved. IT has had no luck recovering them. The photo was a black and white shot of the bars of the bike, with one side hanging, only attached by the cables. It was very painful to look at if you're a bike lover.)