2010 Blogs
Another sunny, blue sky, perfect weather weekend that proved too hot for the long sleeve skinsuit. In a few hours I’m sure I’ll be shivering from dancing in the rain, but right now I am really looking forward to colder temperatures and some sloppy courses.
I love this stretch of wicked east coast races; Gloucester the classic and Providence where I won my first U23 title in 2006 – my first year introduction to cyclocross. Providence is a favorite because we have family just 20min away from the venue. This year was particularly great because my grandma had flown in for a Clam Bake with her sister’s kids, which happened to coincide with my race weekend. So I was able to see Nana, which is always a treat. Was also able to see my aunt and great aunt. My dad and I were stoked for this bit of luck…it may have almost, almost made the loooong drive for dad worth it.
After Providence Dad drove me to Newark Airport to fly to Europe. This was a four hour drive. After dropping me and my plethora of plaid luggage, he then set off for another 5 hours to Elmira, NY, where his sister lives. My dad is a rock star…my biggest supporter, and I feel so fortunate that he likes being an integral part of my current life.
Back to the race. Start is important, right? After a confusing start to the race – instead of a gun or whistle, it was a muffled “Ready, Go have a great race” all joined into one sentence. Everyone on the start row faltered a bit. When we were actually moving forward, instead of stuttering, I missed my pedal. I missed my pedal again. I looked down, I missed my pedal. I missed my pedal again. Finally I clipped in and saw traffic…I should have started on the last line. So I worked my way through but was never able to see the front of the race. It was frustrating that I couldn’t seem to make that one 20-30 second effort really count. Good thing was there were a lot of strong and motivated riders out there, and we could rally together.
I think I rode a solid race, never backing off and maintaining a consistent effort throughout. Some technical bits were solid, a couple others not so much…and that dern pedal just didn’t want to stick all race long! Meredith and Sally were driving the pace up front until Mer flatted in a bad spot, about as far away from the pits as possible. This left Sally by herself on the windy day, riding a wicked strong race. Good to see her take the big W after a bad luck flat last weekend. Andrea Smith took second and I rounded out the podium.
Special thanks to Pedro’s again for their support in the pits, to Richard Fries for helping me with the entry fee, to Schlamm for the warm-up area, to Wheelworks for the trainer, and to Troy at CyclocrossWorld for his work on my bikes.
I love this stretch of wicked east coast races; Gloucester the classic and Providence where I won my first U23 title in 2006 – my first year introduction to cyclocross. Providence is a favorite because we have family just 20min away from the venue. This year was particularly great because my grandma had flown in for a Clam Bake with her sister’s kids, which happened to coincide with my race weekend. So I was able to see Nana, which is always a treat. Was also able to see my aunt and great aunt. My dad and I were stoked for this bit of luck…it may have almost, almost made the loooong drive for dad worth it.
After Providence Dad drove me to Newark Airport to fly to Europe. This was a four hour drive. After dropping me and my plethora of plaid luggage, he then set off for another 5 hours to Elmira, NY, where his sister lives. My dad is a rock star…my biggest supporter, and I feel so fortunate that he likes being an integral part of my current life.
Back to the race. Start is important, right? After a confusing start to the race – instead of a gun or whistle, it was a muffled “Ready, Go have a great race” all joined into one sentence. Everyone on the start row faltered a bit. When we were actually moving forward, instead of stuttering, I missed my pedal. I missed my pedal again. I looked down, I missed my pedal. I missed my pedal again. Finally I clipped in and saw traffic…I should have started on the last line. So I worked my way through but was never able to see the front of the race. It was frustrating that I couldn’t seem to make that one 20-30 second effort really count. Good thing was there were a lot of strong and motivated riders out there, and we could rally together.
I think I rode a solid race, never backing off and maintaining a consistent effort throughout. Some technical bits were solid, a couple others not so much…and that dern pedal just didn’t want to stick all race long! Meredith and Sally were driving the pace up front until Mer flatted in a bad spot, about as far away from the pits as possible. This left Sally by herself on the windy day, riding a wicked strong race. Good to see her take the big W after a bad luck flat last weekend. Andrea Smith took second and I rounded out the podium.
Special thanks to Pedro’s again for their support in the pits, to Richard Fries for helping me with the entry fee, to Schlamm for the warm-up area, to Wheelworks for the trainer, and to Troy at CyclocrossWorld for his work on my bikes.