[Race Report] Lucky Pie Criterium

Another day to wake up at the crack of dawn for a bike race. (Literally, 4:45 AM. Dawn hadn't even cracked. Dawn was still sleeping.)

I was feeling pretty nervous about this race after the disaster that was Bannock St last weekend. I definitely was being jittery, anxious, and difficult this morning.

We got there about an hour before the race and I was able to warm-up on the course with friends and teammates which was really helpful. I got in a few pops at effort and a hot lap or two.

We started with a neutral start which basically means you start rolling and then the official blows a whistle and it was time to start actually racing. I actually really liked this because it didn't really let anyone clip in and hammer - which I have struggled with in the past. In fact, it felt like we started out pretty slowly.

There were a lot of women in this race who hadn't been around much this season and didn't have the greatest technical skills so I was a little freaked out by their wheels in the corners. I was talking to my friend Vicki afterwards who said sometimes she feels like sketchy wheels around her make her wheel sketchy too. I know the feeling - it's like you're freaked out by the people around you so you are holding a little too close to your brakes and sliding out to avoid them. It was a bit of a mess. One girl kept taking all the corners really slow and super tight and I turned to her and as nicely as possible in one of the most dangerous corners said "Hey girl, you really want to be taking these corners wide-tight-wide, ok?" Who knows what happened but I know she freaked me out and I was thankful we dropped her.

Coming into a prime lap, I started to get gapped a little and spent about 3/4 of a lap about 4-5 bike lengths off the back. Instead of letting myself get into a defeatist attitude, I just repeated in my head "get back on, get back on..." and I put my head down and hammered. I noticed I started to get a little wavery, not riding in a straight line (b/c I was so focused on laying down power) so I looked up and focused a little harder, and sure enough, I slipped right back in the back. That was a really good feeling - to come around the officials tent (where all the spectators were as well) and have been gapping in the last lap with people yelling "Andrea, get back on!" and then coming through the next time dead in the center of the group.

The next lap they called 5 laps to go and I joked to a friend "I wondered when they were going to say that" and we jumped into the next corner.  Sure enough we counted down - 4 laps, 3 laps and I was feeling good! Two to go and I was in an ok position towards the middle-back of the back. At some point, a few girls we had lapped jumped back on, including my friend Nicole, whom I often find myself off the back with. I had cheered for her earlier when I could tell she was losing heart with me at the back of the group. Ultimately she did lose the wheel in front of her (but we all have those days - clearly because I did that just last week!), but jumping back on she sat just behind us - not interfering with the peloton (which is good etiquette, so yay Nicole!) and quietly reminding me every time I had to lay down a little more effort that I had this and I was doing great. I love this about the women's field - no matter what team you're on, we make friends and we can cheer each other on.

With two laps to go, I began to really think about my position and moving up in the field. I was sort of boxed in however. In the second to last corner on the last lap, I was able to jump around a few people by taking the inside line of the corner and coming out around 7-10th wheel. As the end was a fairly sizable straight-away, sprinting started early so we basically came out of that corner and immediately started redlining - which is a long way for that kind of effort.

In the end, I came in 17th, which actually might be my best place percentile wise, this year. That said, I think I could've done better if I got up out of my saddle more. I was just very worried about burning out since my sprinting game isn't strong. Still, I'm incredibly proud of my effort to get back on and the fact that I stayed with the pack the whole race - which I've struggled with a lot this year. Coming from a triathlon background, I'm used to long, sustained effort and I have really found it hard to back off and then lay down a ton of power, and then back off again. I spent a lot of time doing that this race with success. Lots of breakthroughs - in my opinion and finally a hint that maybe some of the work I've been doing is finally paying off.

I also really loved this race for the great attitude of the other racers I was around - so massive kudos to everyone around me. It was so great to hear women communicating (at least in the back anyway) and having positive attitudes.

Now to work on my positioning and sprinting.

[Race Report] Bannock St Crit aka swallow your pride and frustration

I woke up on Sunday at the crack of dawn (5 AM) to race the Mike Nields Memorial Bannock St Crit. I was feeling optimistic on this one because I'd been having good mock races and performing well on group rides. Plus, they paid out awards 5-deep which is generous and awesome for a women's 4 race. That said, I was a little tired and as some girls who win a lot start to show up, I felt discouraged.

I got in a sufficient warm-up but apparently started in a little too hard of a gear and never really got on the race. I was immediately in a mode of chasing the group. This is mentally rough especially when I was feeling stronger recently. Dropped with no hope by the second or third lap, I decided to just ease off and let the group catch me. By the time they did, they had really broken up the field and probably only about half of the girls who started were in the main group. I jumped on but they were moving fast and very strong and I was getting gapped. I was probably 3 bike lengths off the back, trying to hang in the best I could when we took a left turn into a chicane. Coming up on the right hand immediately following, a racer kitted out for a later race started to cross the street of the course as I lined up the corner. I took it but swung out left and grabbed my brakes and yelled "whoa!" He apologized and everything was fine (no crashes or injury) but at that point...my race was done. It was already hard enough to give up and let the group lap me so I could get back on and hang out. Once that plan was beat, I was both mentally and physically frustrated. It felt like this race was the biggest waste of money and time. I sat up and drank water and just pedaled easy for the last two laps - basically getting in my cool down. This is the first time all year I've finished dead last.

I pulled off the course immediately once the sweeper moto came through saying the course was clear. I exited the course and walked over to Eric, almost in tears - frustrated, upset, and angry. We rode home in silence. He knew where I was and that there wasn't much to say.

That afternoon we volunteered at Ironman Boulder and it was a great way to get my mind off it - got an opportunity to help out cyclists with lots of mechanical issues and I can say it really exhausted me. Great day of giving back to the endurance community!