Friday I headed to Ohio to race at the Tour de Grandview. What looked
to be a pretty basic rectangle course on paper would have been a generally safe
course but the first two turns were tight and with it being a women’s open race
I was a bit concerned about how everyone would handle them. My concerns proved
valid as wreck after wreck occurred in the first two turns, with one
neutralizing the race for about 15 minutes. However, the craziness for me did
not involve a turn, but rather a pedestrian.
I was sitting second wheel in the pack behind Katie Arnold
(Riley) when about ten feet in front of us a lady carrying a beer and a
sandwich decided to walk around the gate and in front of the entire pack. With
a line of riders moving up our left Katie tried to go around the lady but
instead ended up hitting her dead on and I went down on top of her. As we scrambled to untangle our bikes and
ourselves she picked up her sandwich, and threw her beer cup aside and walked
away without saying a word. Lovely. I got back in the race for the neutralized
portion and managed to finish 4th in the 3/4 field and 8th
overall. Not exactly how I had hoped to finish the day but glad that I was able to finish the race.
The next day as we were looking over my bike it became clear
that I had sustained worrisome damage to the carbon on the front fork and one
of the seat stays. Although some repair is possible, racing on
the Madone is no longer an option. The timing was not ideal, with U23 nationals
in less than a week and pretty much all the Trek frames in my size sold out. As of
right now I will be racing the next two weeks on my aluminum 1.2 “The Beast”.
Saturday I was home dealing with the bike, Old Navy Flip
Flop Day, a power outage (complete with sparking downed wire in the backyard),
an injured cat and a dog who apparently likes to eat things it shouldn’t. With
not very much sleep and still sore from injuries I loaded up the The Beast and
headed to Madeira on Sunday. Warm-ups were uneventful as Emma and I chatted and I tried
to get the 1.2 as dialed in as I could though the setup is different from my
normal racing bike. More than anything I was glad to have a teammate with me today.
The first ten minutes of racing allowed me to loosen up,
though the two 180 degree turns on the course were causing a lot of
speed-up/slow-down motion that was taking its toll on the pack. Emma took the
first prime and then I took a flyer for the second. Coming through with such a
lead I decided to keep moving, staying off the front for another few laps. As I
looked up though I realized we were only 25 minutes into a 60 minute race. Not
really willing to do the rest of the race solo, or put the effort into a solo
effort only to get caught and spat out the back, I sat up and returned to the
field. As the race continued I would take the next prime as well. Emma and I
were able to stay close to each other, working really well together as Emma put a lot of
effort into the front of the race. As five laps to go came I sank back in the
pack a bit, mentioning to Emma that I was planning to attack with three to go. As
we came around into the first 18 degree turn on the fourth lap I flew up the
outside and pulled away, never looking back and taking the last two primes as well as the win. At the end of the day Emma and I took every prime, the win and 8th
place for Scholars Inn Bakehouse.
And yes, I did lock myself out of my car.
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