Just got back from a rather short-lived Tulsa Tough. Tulsa Tough is a 3 day crit omnium on the NRC calendar. Overall it is a great race to attend with plenty of prize $, great riders, and good fun all around. The races all sit within a mile from each other so once you get to Tulsa you can ride your bike everywhere. Tulsa also has some interesting sights including some fantastic architecture and some museums that are amazing like the Philbrook and the Gilcrest. Although I had a crash on day 1 of racing that took me out of the competition, I still enjoyed the weekend in Tulsa.Day 1 race started at 7:30 at night with 60 riders for the women's 1-2 race. The pace started medium and it was hard to rev it up because it was an 8 corner .8 mile course so a lot of momentum stopped in the turns. I was riding Shelley Olds' wheel and following her course as she moved up through the field in the first 8 laps.
I had found a great spot in the top 1/3rd and was getting ready to settle in and find a wheel when a rider in a Vitamin Cottage jersey was cornering extremely erratically. I assessed very quickly that she was unnecessarily braking in the turns which was causing her to spin-out and wobble into the field. I knew to get far away from her and in turn 3 I was going to pass on the inside up the small incline. As I had that thought, she fishtailed out of turn 3 and completely lost control. I had moved to her inside and actually thought it was enough to miss her crash when either her bike or a rider behind her spun out and nicked my wheel just enough to send me into a perfect right sided slide interrupted by a rider plowing into me from behind and sending me into a full left sided tumble. I knew there were about 40 riders following so I tucked into a ball and tried to protect myself.
The pile-up had at least 16 riders in it and bodies were everywhere. I immediately knew I had hurt my ribs on the left side but was able to get back on the bike and found my way to the pit. the USA Cycling medic assessed me and through me back in a few laps later. I found I could not get out of the saddle due to my ribs and could not breathe so I sat on the back and just spun for the remainder of the crit trying to finish since it was an omnium. Later that night my injuries settled in and I knew I was a lot more hurt than I had anticipated. After a long night and an emergency ride to the hospital, it was obvious that my Tulsa Tough was over.
The races were all very exciting and Kelly Benjamin and Shelley Olds dominated. X-teammate Jennifer Wilson did great as well and placed 7th in the omnium. A shout out to Flavia, Jennifer, and Betsy who all kept an eye on me. So Tulsa was a bit tough on me but I recommend this race to anyone. Now for a long 5 weeks of rib healing.
