Bicycle, Blues, & BBQ Road Race

Wind is not my friend. I knew I was in for a treat when heading North. It's always windy up there. Today the weather did not let me down. It was hot, and extremely windy (probably a sustained 20mph with gusts near 35). The road race was 42 miles long and there were a total of 9 women combined (1/2/3/4's). One word can describe this course: FLAT! Definitely not my kind of race. I did this race last year so I knew what to expect. I was dreading the race the entire week.

The race started out tame. We had a 3 mile neutral start and were a little confused at where it even stopped being neutral. Not a big deal though. With as small of a field as it was and the wind, I wasn't expecting the race to be too tough at the start. We were trading pulls and riding casually for quite some time. Within the first 10 miles, there was a crash. Julie from DMOS was pulling through and had been for some time so I started to move towards the front to take a pull. At about the same time, she pulled off to let the person behind her pull. I slowed up and moved over slightly. The girl behind me rubbed my wheel. We had a balance battle for about 15 seconds before she went down. I felt terrible. Fortunately we were going about 15 mph. The girl behind her also went down. The group stopped to wait for the fallen girls. Lacey from DMOS rejoined us but the other girl who originally rubbed my wheel was out. I guess she hit her head. Sure hope she's alright!! She was conscious and all, so I imagine everything will be ok. Anyway, after the crash, things were still pretty mellow.

It stayed mellow until we hit the tail wind. Before we hit the tail wind, a guy from one of the races ahead of us joined us. He had a mechanical and was just standing along side the road. Next thing I know, he was in the mix of things. He wasn't really pulling through or anything yet, just happened to be in the back, sometimes off the front. Anyway, Jane from ICCC eventually attacked hard in the tail wind. I quickly reacted and grabbed her wheel. It was just the two of us for a mile or so. Then Julie from DMOS and Anne from ICCC joined us. Also, the guy that joined us was with the break. He was just sort of dangling out there. Eventually we all tried to work together. Most of the remainder of the race was in tailwind/crosswind. There was only one smaller section of headwind we had to manage through. The finish was in a tail wind, go figure. Things sort of cooled down for a while during the race. Once we hit the first "Road Closed" sign, things started to heat back up with Julie pushing the pace. Once we got closer, Jane started to move around to the front. I followed closely and held on to her wheel to the last possible minute. I sprinted around her close to the finish line and held off for the win. I ran out of gears in the sprint and was spinning a higher cadence than normal for sprinting. The max speed on my computer was almost 37mph. I'm assuming it was for the sprint because there weren't any hills to go down where we could reach that speed.

I was pleased with my finish. For once, I didn't miss the break. Maybe I'm starting to get a hang of this road racing thing? Probably ought to right? Anyway, next up is Iowa Games. Not sure if I'm doing the mountain bike race, road race, or both. Depends how I feel. Don't want to destroy myself before SuperWeek. It was great to see all the people I saw today.

Here's a few things that stand out in my mind at the moment about the weekend:
1. Chris Hansen dominating the Cat 4 race. This guy is on a roll with winning. Watch out!
2. A mountain biker mixing it up in the Cat 5 race.
3. Tom Zirbel bringing some teammates to the race to mix it up with the local fasties in the Pro/1/2 race.
4. Some more voting on the Thad Neil hair debate.
5. A road trip to Clear Lake with my sister. I need help getting her on a bike. Any suggestions??
6. Thinking I'm going to miss the folks in Iowa after I move, but will definitely be back to visit!!!

That's all for now, have a good night!
-A