The Beginning of a Long Week

This past weekend and the remainder of this week has found me in Kenosha, WI and Chicago, IL for the Prairie State Cycling Series. Since I could not do TOAD due to house and dog sitting obligations this series was an opportunity to do some larger races including four National Criterium Calendar races at the end of the week. Being newly upgraded to Category Two I expect it to be a day by day kind of week, with some races being relatively successful and some being complete learning experiences. First off, I want to give a shout out to Beth Engwis and her family for hosting me for the first two races as well as the rest days and velodrome stuff.  Beth and I met my sophomore year when I first started with collegiate cycling and we were in the Bs field together. Our friendship has survived the upgrade to the A field (even if she does go to Marian….) and she is the one who convinced me to try track. It has been fun to visit her and get some racing in.

Thursday night I was up on the Major Taylor Velodrome and took the overall omnium in my category for the evening by finishing 3rd in the Points race, 2nd in the Elimination and 1st in the scratch race. In the process I received my Cat 3 upgrade which will allow me to race as an A on the track for the collegiate season. Yipee!

Friday’s race was located in downtown Kenosha, close to the waterfront. Beth and I were able to tool around and warm up before rolling to the start line. It was a relatively small field but team names represented included Vanderkitten, Exergy, Tibco and ISCorp so I had a feeling it was still going to be a tough day. Attack after attack went the first bit, with a group of three including ISCorp, Exergy and Tibco rolling off the front. They would go on to catch the field. At this point I had started to shake the remaining nerves from nationals and was feeling more confident in myself and my bike. A flurry of attacks followed the catch of the pack and I went up against two women from Vanderkitten and Tibco to take a prime. Shortly after the prime Vanderkitten and one other lady went up the road and I found myself in the wrong place to respond, instead watching 5^th place roll away. As five to go came up a 100$ prime was announced and facing a guaranteed 10^th place finish (the pack had lapped/dropped several riders) I decided to take a chance. As I took the prime I looked under my arm to see the pack was nowhere to be found.  I would go on to stay off the front the rest of the race to take 6^th.

My solo dig off the front for the prime and 6th place.

The Saturday race was cancelled due to unexpected construction in Chicago. This left Beth and I to have some fun in Kenosha. A coffee shop spin and some relaxed velodrome laps were in order and I used the opportunity to practice some slower-paced flying 200s and track standing. Its interesting how different the velodromes can be from one another and I look forward to racing on the Kenosha velodrome Tuesday night.  

Sunday at Crystal Lake was a mixed bag. More of the riders in the field had teammates and so the break took longer to sort itself out, creating a faster paced race. I struggled for the third race in a row with my start, unable to move up in the pack. When the break of Vanderkitten and Tibco finally did get away the peloton still gave chase due to a lack of representation from other teams. An attempt for a prime saw me shelled with ten to go and in a chase group with three other women. I finished in the money, and not last. The heat took a toll but also I had a hard time moving up to the front at the start and found myself dealing with a lot of rubber band action. However, it was a great race in that I learned a lot about what I need to start working on more. This whole experience is about education and I was up to my ears in it after the race. It was nice to see some friends, including Sarah from Lindenwood who I got to hang out with after the race and commiserate about our shared learning experiences after upgrading.

A diminished pack coming through the start/finish at Crystal Lake, at this point a move was up the road.

Overall it was a nice way to ease into the more elite level racing against the Pro categories. The back half of the series, which contains the NCC races, will be a different story but I am looking forward to the experience. The next two days I am hanging out in Kenosha including racing on the velodrome a bit, but for the most part will be focusing on recovery and getting ready for the next five races in the series.