Elite Women's Podium
5th again!
I will take another podium any day especially since I was thinking about it and figured out that I was in:
WA Monday
UT Tuesday
NV Wednesday
WI Thursday
That is enough travel to kill someone I tell ya.
More later. Kathy needy sleepy.
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Sun Prairie
Alright, I got some good sleep so here is the down and dirty on the race finally:
After getting a second row call up from yesterday's first row call up (yeah, the better you do the day before, the further back you get to start in the pack now.....just kidding...but really I am not sure what that was about) and then getting a group talking to on the line from the UCI about making sure our hair was tamed and not covering our numbers (what....the 38 #'s we have to pin on all over our body isn't enough?), the gun went off.
I quickly settled into my drops, a very new position for me on my bike. It was my goal to race in my drops today and try some new things out for future races (nothing like trying new stuff out DURING a race eh?).....and maybe get on the podium again while I was at it if possible. Again, I am not so much the under achiever trying to do it all, which sometimes works out and sometimes doesn't. But today with the help of my very willing teammate, Maria S,
we put the screws on to get me on the podium. I was sitting in 6th place and just could not seem to close the gap to 5th. If I came close that was as far as I got to 5th but I wasn't about to give up when Maria, sitting in 7th decided to drill it, passing me like a bat out of hell. I jumped on her wheel while she successfully closed the gap to 5th place while I rested.
So there we all sat with 2 laps to go, I have had a bit of a rest from Maria's wheel, and I decided to attack 5th place shortly thereafter in a very unlikely of spots on the course......a technical downhill of sorts. I knew that I could get enough of a gap there and hold it for two laps (1.5 laps by now). -I tell you what, it is some fun stuff to be able to race at this level IN ADDITION to being able to actually think about tactics. There were many years there that I could ONLY race at this level and where ever the chips fell, they fell because I was too oxygen deficient to think or even say my name for that matter.- So I attacked where I planned, put my head down for the rest of the race and slopped it for 5th.
I am happy with my 5 races in 9 days and 3 podiums after 2.5 months of no racing. And I am very pleased with where I am at the moment and am extremely lucky to have teammates that are as talented as Maria. After laying it all out for me, Maria still came in 7th in today's race!
The name of Sun Prairie is very appropriate.
Crowds gather to watch the race:
The Elite Men's podium:
1 comment:
NICE WORK KS!!!
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