Off to the race! We could not believe that they actually made real signs for the women’s parking!
While perusing the course we road past Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwin which was rockin’. I caught up with Scott a friend of mine and we got a photo op together with my teammate Morgan. Then it was back to the car to warm up.
There was an amazing crowd lining the streets for the women’s race which was really cool. It was great to see riders who I had not seen since the end of last year. After the nation anthem was sung, off we went! The pace was fast from the start and I had to hustle to get to the front in the first lap. Negotiating the bot dots continued to be an issue on the back side of the course. Since cycling does not help your bones I think the jarring of the bot dots definitely helped with that. For the first NRC race of the season I felt great. My legs were tired from my training the week before but they appeared to be opening up just fine. As the race went on I started to feel more confident and feel the rhythm of the race. It was also great to see Morgan up in the mix and riding really aggressive. At some point I saw a rider go wide on turn 2 and slam right into the hay bails. Horrible! The next time around X was coming out of the pits so she must have been involved but appeared to be okay which is always good news.
I thought I should test my legs out just a little so I attacked one time on the front straight. The crowd was going wild and was really into the race which really inspired me. However, no one was going to let anything go and we were caught on the backside. Legs were still good though.
Knowing that the payout was high and there were many primes I decided that if I was in the right place and the opportunity arouse I would go for one. Well, the opportunity came and I took it. There was an opening on the left side and I shot up it going long and had it. Then Dave Towle said prime on the next lap and I thought “ugh, what an idiot was it not a prime on the lap I just took?” I often get race brain and think that I am not hearing things straight. However, as I reconnected with the pack both Morgan and X said good job so I guess I must have gotten the prime.
The race continued to be fast and there were many attacks off the front but you could tell that the sprinter’s teams wanted a field sprint as they were very diligent on the front. I looked up at the finish line and noticed it was 7 laps to go. Where did the time go? I immediately started to think of positioning for the final lap. I continued to move up through the field and was in pretty good position for the final lap. We made it to the back side and I was holding my position when all of a sudden someone slammed into me from the right hand side. This caused me to go into the bot dots and my left foot unclip from my pedal. My left foot went into the bike of the rider next to me and all I could think was that I was not going to crash again. With all my might I pulled my left leg back and got straight on my bike again as I had everything going in all directions. It seemed like everyone and their uncle had past me. It took a couple of pedal strokes to get clipped in again and I sprinted with all my might on the left side of the peloton to try and regain position. By turn 3 I must have been sitting in 25th place and was already fighting off oxygen deficit. After the turn I hustled some more to place myself higher and was looking for openings and good wheels. Then we were sprinting and my head was throbbing. The finish line seemed so far away but I just kept telling my legs to keep turning over with all the strength I had left. Finally we hit the line and I was glad it was over. What a great race! The crowd was on fire. Everyone road a really good race, what a blast!
I was not sure of my placing right after the race but knew I was in the top ten!!!! Upon hearing the results I found that I had finished 6th place! I was very excited. Also, for the prime I had won a gift certificate to the Russian River Brew Pub, how fun! After we watched the men finish which was so exciting, Morgan, her mom and I headed to the brew pub for some well deserved beer and a pizza. Overall, what a great day.
Wheels
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