Remember that big snowstorm after the Lindenwood race? Well, long story short I fell walking on the ice and broke my tailbone. Sad to say it is all downhill from here.
Marian was five days after the tailbone incident and the last thing I wanted to do was sit on a bike for not one, but two criteriums. However, I was already registered and I would have to be on my deathbed not to race a bike (especially after racing with a concussion/whiplash last summer after the wreck at camp).
Saturday morning rolled around, my alarm didn't go off and when I got to the race site I locked myself and Ashton out of the car for what is the second time this season. The day racing was a lot of fun though, it was a cool course with a wicked fast technical portion through the campus. The collegiate race proved to be a good learning experience, and massive thanks to Ivy from Marian for giving me some tips on how to handle the turns. I felt really comfortable throughout the entire race, which was a nice change from my usual inner panic. As is my problem though, I put in too much work and popped off the back with two to go. I got in with a small group off the back and was able to break away in the final run through thee technical portion and fly to the finish line for 18th place. Not my best, but in the points.
The afternoon was a very different kind of racing, the cat and mouse "I'm not going to pull, but I'm not going to let anyone get away" which I HATE. I finished with the pack after finding myself in horrid positioning coming into the technical portion of the last lap, and having to work from the back of the pack for the sprint.
Moving on.
Monday I had a doctor's appointment with an orthopedic surgeon to look at my wrist which had been aching and swelling the past week. Lucky me, I had developed a cyst inside the joint. Fortunately they were able to take care of it that morning and the recovery period is only supposed to be two weeks. I spent an hour with needles and the like in my wrist but was patched up, sent on my way and went for a ride that afternoon (granted that ride involved only one hand, but still).
The injured wrist without the hard brace on.
Wednesday was ITTs for Little 500 and at this point my wrist was still causing a fair amount of pain and I was concerned about my ability to control the bike as well as get up to speed with only limited ability of my second hand. It hurt, but I got 14th out of 133 girls with only one hand in the drops. All I heard afterwards was "You looked like you were in pain".
My name on the board (that lasted about ten minutes).
Ouch.
The road race consisted of half gravel/half paved roads for a grueling 42 miles. I knew my wrist was going to be a factor and that thinking was proved right when we hit the first gravel section. I found myself 30 seconds off the pack with Stephanie (Marian). We soon caught three others which dropped to Stephanie and I and then grew to four again going into the second lap. At this point I knew there was no power in the universe that was going to get me to the pack and I found myself on the wrong side of a shattered group. Between the gravel section and the 20+ mph winds on the paved roads I ended up doing the last three laps by myself in no man's land with the pack in sight and two girls a minute or so behind me the entire time. However, many thanks to the Men's A fields for the words of encouragement as they passed me on lap 4.
Gravel, dirt, dust, sand you name it, we raced through it on Saturday.
The ITT that afternoon was equally painful with the wind, a firetruck and a brush fire all adding to the frustration. I got 15th in both events.
I stayed the night with Tessa from University of Michigan and it was fun to talk about boys, bikes and eating gluten free. It was nice not to stay in a hotel, and many thanks to her for being willing to house a competitor.
The Crit the next days was a very fun course with sweeping turns, a tailwind up a small rise and a massive headwind into the finish. Right off the bat Coryn, Ivy and a few others from Marian/Lindenwood were off the front. I found myself, as usual, in the main pack doing way too much work on the front. Field sprint for 14th. After the fact that statement about me doing too much work was repeated multiple times from multiple people that I have a lot of respect for. I know that tactically it is not the best move since I am often without teammates, but I also still have this bug in my brain about doing work in criteriums. For me part of racing is doing work and driving yourself into the ground. It's how I learn, it's how I get better and sucking wheel all day just to pop out for a field sprint just seems wrong.
The A Women NOT on a varsity team.
Regardless it has become clear that my tactics need some work...so the coach assigned a little homework. I'm supposed to read it, memorize it, practice it and repeat. No pressure. At the end of the day though, it was a very stressful car ride home between talking to my coach and then also with the doctor about my wrist and I was an emotional wreck by the time I got back to Bloomington. Frustrated with my consistent "just out of top ten" results as well as worried about my ability to continue riding, I ended up going straight to my parent's and curling up on the couch for an hour. Tomorrow is another day, another week of workouts and another chance to get it right.
Homework.
I have that book, it can be helpful. I also agree with your idea of RACING vs. riding. Being aggressive might not always be smart (look at my Depauw crit) but I don't want to drive 5 hrs to just sit in and wait for the sprint. Sometimes it pays, sometimes it doesn't.
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