Tulsa Tough Day

Tulsa Tough has come and gone this year. I actually love these races. It's my second year doing them. Fun, fast courses and huge fields. Not to mention, some awesome prize money! Kate, Toni and I met up in St. Louis Thursday morning. We went for a short spin and then hopped in Black Betty for the drive to Tulsa. It's a blast traveling with these girls. We had some good times, and some sleepy times. Arrived in Tulsa at a good time and got settled into our host housing.

Kate and Toni all smiles while spinning out the legs in Tulsa.

The team spinning before Day 1 of Tulsa Tough.

Day 1's crit was in the evening so we went for a team spin in the morning. Found a pretty awesome road outside of Tulsa. Nice and scenic. The crit course for day 1 looked like this:

It was pancake flat, and fast. The weather was sunny and a bit warm, but not humid (which is pretty unusual for Tulsa). There were a ton of crashes. None of the LipSmacker girls went down. As a team, we went for some primes and did some attacking. Anne was our top finisher in 10th place, Kacey was 12th, I was 22nd, Toni was 30th, and Kate was 60th. Not too shabby for over 90 starters!

Day 2 was an afternoon race so we went out for another spin to loosen up the legs. Today was quite a bit hotter. The weather was still beautiful though. Here's the course:

There was a slight uphill on the backside of the course, leading into a tight left hand corner. There were a few times where the outside curb came pretty close to my front wheel. After the top straight-away there was a pretty fast downhill leading into another wide left hand turn into a long sprint finish. As a team, again, we attacked and went for primes. Since we aren't a crit team, this is pretty much all we can do in crits. Try to get a break going and take some primes. There was a huge crash 10minutes into the race. My coach, Meredith Miller, went down after some riders moved into her. This crash happened about 30 riders back and took place in the first corner after the start/finish. Needless to say, about 2/3's of the field went down or got stuck behind it. So they neutralized the race for 10minutes. Then the race was shortened to 40minutes to go. It was fast, but maintainable. I took a flier with 2 to go to try and string things out a bit. Then I got caught, and shuffled towards the back. It was hard moving up the last lap because I was already tired. Anne was the top finisher for the team in 18th place, Toni was 23rd, I was 32nd, Kacey was 49th, and Kate was stuck behind the crashing and wasn't able to finish. She is ok though.

Day 3 was a great course for me. It was super hot out. Definitely a race of attrition. There was a pretty steep hill that kept things hard. Here's the course:


The field shattered and eventually there were only 31 people who finished the race of the starting 90+ riders. There were lots of attacks. Alison Powers was off the front for quite a few laps. I took a prime one of the laps. Coming into the last lap, I tried to hold position in the top 5, but got swarmed coming into the 2nd to last corner heading down the hill. Was able to move up a few spots on the downhill, but not enough. I finished 12th, Toni was 23rd, Anne was 26th. We were one of the only teams to have more than 2 riders in the lead group. It was an awesome weekend for the team. I'm glad the weather stayed nice (minus the heat).

After Tulsa Tough, I headed back to St. Louis. The next day, I drove back to Fort Collins. That Tuesday, I rode in rain and 50 degree weather. Nothing like coming from 95degrees to 50degrees in a day. The rest of the week wasn't that great either, but I managed to get some training in and some working. It's going to be a busy month! Thanks for stopping in and I'll try to be a better blogger :)
-A