Snake Alley and Melon City Criteriums

It is interesting how rare it is for everything to come together perfectly right before a race, and even during a race. Weather, overtraining, mechanicals, injuries and illnesses, all these things can affect your race even before you get on the bike. Fortunately for me all dials were set for the first race of the weekend, Snake Alley.

The past two weeks had seen me finally kick the lingering cough from being sick, I had gotten some good interval training in, and had a much needed confidence boost from a Wednesday Worlds training session. Friday night dad and I went to climb Snake Alley a few times, especially focusing on doing it all in the saddle due to the forecasted wet conditions. I was ready, felt good and everything was coming together.

We woke up to rain, the kind that soaks you to the core and where the dampness seems to pervade everything. The course was slippery and with almost half of it being downhill sweeping turns bike control was going to be precarious as well as the uphill on the cobbles of Snake Alley. Entered into the 2/3 race I knew I had a shot at doing well and the plan was to mark the pack up and attack on the last time up the hill if I was feeling good.

The first time up the hill I was not geared properly and struggled to shift down quickly while moving up the climb, especially with the need to stay seated on the slippery cobbles. Although I had started in the front I quickly found myself in the back of the pack. I managed to move up a little through the rest of the course but truly found my momentum the second time up the hill, moving up to the second wheel. As we came around the start/finish I moved to the front and as the pack hit the little rise before Snake Alley I rolled up, glancing over my shoulder and realizing that no one was there. Seeing an opportunity I pushed it up Snake Alley, my back wheel fishtailing at one point due to a stupid move out of the saddle, leaving a nice bruise as a reminder not to try that again.

The pack the second time up snake alley.

I crested the hill with about 10 seconds on the leader. With no one to slow me down I was able to take better lines through the turns and increased my lead on the technical portion. The next three times up the hill the gap slowly increased to roughly 45 seconds as I got into a comfortable rhythm on the hill. In the end I took the win, my first of the season.

I still will never understand what it is with cyclists and bricks. 

The next day at Melon City I made the decision to enter not only the 2/3 race but also the Pro/1/2/3, knowing the latter would provide some good training against some pretty awesome ladies. The 2/3 race started in the pouring rain, with thunder and lightning in the area. I was feeling good and the lead pack quickly dropped to about seven women. The speed bump and the longer uphill were proving a challenge and were ultimately the reason for the selection that occurred.

About four laps in I came around the first turn and my tire went flat. With no free laps I cut the course and quickly changed it out, chasing the pack as the very last rider on the course. Ultimately I was caught but with two to go we came in sight of a group of seven riders up the road, and two other women in the field had already been lapped. With the pack going slower I leapfrogged ahead, passing the group, fighting my way back to a 9^th place finish.

The Pro/1/2/3 race was a hard pill to swallow. I made some moves that I had no business trying, lacking the patience to sit in the pack and do no work. I hung with the field for the finish, rolling in 16^th but I have to start being better about the matches I burn, especially with no teammates. More on the disaster that was Quad Cities later.