Niwot Criterium

Another day of racing. The day didn't start off too hot. I came down with a migraine around 1:00. They usually kick my butt the rest of the day. Right about race time, the nausea effects started to kick on. Great. Anyway, I drove down to Niwot, which was about an hour drive. My race was to start at 4:20. At about 3:15 it started pouring. It rained for a good half hour. I debated on what tires to run and at what pressure. I finally decided to through on the Elite's with my rain tires and run them at 85psi. I did a brief warm-up (2 miles). It stopped raining so I went to check out the course. Already starting to dry, nice, and there were still 20 minutes until my race started. Through the SL's back on with my regular tires and pumped them up to 105, just in case it was still a tad wet. Headed off to the start area and took a lap after the Men's 3's were done. The course was a figure eight. Lots of corners, but nothing to sketcy. There were two turns that were more than 90 degrees, so that made things interesting. Around 30 women showed up for the Pro/1/2 race. Nice!!!

Things started off fast, go figure. 60 minutes in the hurt cage. My stomach never did settle down. I about got dropped so many times. Need to learn to not ride at the back. Several reasons why I did. First, I couldn't get clipped in so was at the back at the start anyway. Second, people who kept getting gapped would go around me after I just went around them, and then they created another gap...WTF? Third, I wasn't feeling well. Just wasn't my day, and I knew it wasn't going to be. Never should have done the mountain bike race yesterday. But it was fun, so I don't regret it. I'm still learning to be able to maintain 24mph in a race at elevation. Just taking mental notes of the riders. Got to learn there tendencies and what not. Came in 12th place. It was about mid-pack. Technically was my first Cat 2 race, since there weren't any cat 3's in the field. The field is soo much safer, and I love it. I'm so much more comfortable riding here, or at this level. Don't have to worry about squirrely riders, etc.

Anyway, there's still one more road race I'm going to do out here. It's two weeks after Labor Day weekend. But, in the near future, I have goals for Gateway Cup. Flying out Friday night so I won't make the first race. Will be there the rest of the weekend though. Hopefully it goes well. If not, I just wasted a ton of money. All about the experience though. That's all for now. Good night!
-A