[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!