This was my third time doing this race and my third major fail. It was a warm, windy spring day--steady 25mph winds with gusts near 50. I got a good warm up in with Cindi and we talked about strategy for the race. We did a lap on the course before coming to the line. Tilles Park only has two "corners" in it, and they're not true corners at that. The cross winds would be significant, with us only facing a head wind right before turning to the start finish. We lined up 12 deep. Most of the normal racers were there with a few out-of-towners who had stayed over from the Hillsboro race on Saturday.
We were pretty slow off the line, everyone grouping up and trying to find a safe place in the wind. The efforts was hard, but not unreasonable and the attacks didn't seem to come as frequently as they did at Forest Park. Somewhere in that first 15 minutes we lost Steph. I noticed her spending way too much time at the front and knew it wouldn't be good for her. We had a prime in those first few laps as well. The sprint for it went way early. I reacted but just did enough to stay with the group. I took a brief pull at the front early on and then got back in the pack.
We were around 22-23 minutes and I was on the front, trying to tuck back in before the wind. Chris attacked. I hesitated a second, looking for a wheel and then just couldn't grab one. I wrongly assumed they would quickly regroup, but they didn't. The group fractured. Seven girls in the lead group, three chasing, and Steph and me. Steph said she was going to sit up, she didn't have it. I told her to hold on to my wheel and I'd try to bridge us up. I made a little ground on the group of three, but never could catch them. They eventually rejoined the group and somewhere in the three laps, I dropped Steph. I was out there alone. I debated what to do: sit up and wait or time trial the race. I wanted a good workout, so I time trialed it. I started to get mad at myself for not handling the attack well, but then I realized that it was a sunny, beautiful day, I was on my bike and I had a cheering section everytime I went through the start/finish. I was caught by the pack with four to go. I stayed with them for a lap until Jamie attacked. In that attack the Skinny Cow girl crashed herself (she was all over the place all race). She and I rode the last two laps together to finish.
I know on any given day, I can hold my own with most of those girls. The dynamics yesterday were different with a few more strong ladies added. I don't think I was mentally committed to the race, my mind was focused on my job interview from Friday before the race. And I forgot how much I dislike gatorade once it gets warm, i.e. I didn't drink enough during the race. The best part of yesterday for me was post race. A friend of mine walked up and told me great job and that he knew I wouldn't quit the race because that's all that his fiancee kept saying, "Suzanne says you never quit, no matter what. Look at her. She'll stay with it and keep going." It gave me a chance to walk the talk.
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| Still in the group. *Photo credit: Dennis Fickinger |
We were pretty slow off the line, everyone grouping up and trying to find a safe place in the wind. The efforts was hard, but not unreasonable and the attacks didn't seem to come as frequently as they did at Forest Park. Somewhere in that first 15 minutes we lost Steph. I noticed her spending way too much time at the front and knew it wouldn't be good for her. We had a prime in those first few laps as well. The sprint for it went way early. I reacted but just did enough to stay with the group. I took a brief pull at the front early on and then got back in the pack.
We were around 22-23 minutes and I was on the front, trying to tuck back in before the wind. Chris attacked. I hesitated a second, looking for a wheel and then just couldn't grab one. I wrongly assumed they would quickly regroup, but they didn't. The group fractured. Seven girls in the lead group, three chasing, and Steph and me. Steph said she was going to sit up, she didn't have it. I told her to hold on to my wheel and I'd try to bridge us up. I made a little ground on the group of three, but never could catch them. They eventually rejoined the group and somewhere in the three laps, I dropped Steph. I was out there alone. I debated what to do: sit up and wait or time trial the race. I wanted a good workout, so I time trialed it. I started to get mad at myself for not handling the attack well, but then I realized that it was a sunny, beautiful day, I was on my bike and I had a cheering section everytime I went through the start/finish. I was caught by the pack with four to go. I stayed with them for a lap until Jamie attacked. In that attack the Skinny Cow girl crashed herself (she was all over the place all race). She and I rode the last two laps together to finish.
I know on any given day, I can hold my own with most of those girls. The dynamics yesterday were different with a few more strong ladies added. I don't think I was mentally committed to the race, my mind was focused on my job interview from Friday before the race. And I forgot how much I dislike gatorade once it gets warm, i.e. I didn't drink enough during the race. The best part of yesterday for me was post race. A friend of mine walked up and told me great job and that he knew I wouldn't quit the race because that's all that his fiancee kept saying, "Suzanne says you never quit, no matter what. Look at her. She'll stay with it and keep going." It gave me a chance to walk the talk.
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