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A Win, A Sufferfest and A Disaster.
"I'd like to make myself believe that the world turns slowly"
It's been a fun weekend here and now a day of major decision making. The weekend began with an unexpected and fantastic get-together with dear friends for a night none of us will soon forget, and ended with racing galore.
I should note, this blog post would have been up yesterday, but silly me accidentally deleted it instead of saving. Argh. Me not so smart sometimes.
Back to the news...
Friday night was fantastic, even though Sam and I were running late, as usual. I try to be on time. Really, I do, but I don't like to rush. I'm a planner, so generally I'm where I need to be. We did make it on-site with 2 minutes to spare, but our crew was waiting.
Good times Friday night meant that the night stretched into morning, all good, except that I was supposed to meet Joanne, aka: The Rossinator, for a 100 mile ride and brick run. At 6:45, I texted her and we both bailed. I crawled back into bed with Lu and Sam and didn't even budge when he got up an hour later to go ride with the boys.
After talking with the coach, we opted for a shorter ride and a nice 45 min. transition run. I headed out and about 30 min. into the ride, the skies opened up, thunder crackled and my lovely ride turned into a soakfest... oh, and I was wearing my white kit. Sweet.
It wasn't all bad, the rain felt great, especially in the sweltering temps and humidity. Plus, it meant my nasty bike shoes got a free bath (the bike too).
I then ran in the rain with Luna, but the rain also meant nobody was out in the park so she got to be off the leash: Wahoooooo!!!!
We returned soaked and happy and showered up and took a nap. Then it stopped raining. Of course.
Sam returned later and after he and the boys downed some beers at the pub, we met to clean up our machines for Sunday's races.
I love me a clean machine!!!
Sunday morning arrived sooner than expected and we were out the door for the CT Criterium Championships that also happened to be the New England Regional Championships.
We made it there just in time to register and warm up. Then at 11 AM I went to line up for my race. That's when I noticed the old guys standing around... "er, when is the women's race?", I asked. "Oh, the races are running an hour late".
An hour. Try 90 minutes. Eek. I decided it wasn't a bad thing to get in some extra warm-up ride time and continued to pedal around, catching up with friends.
My race finally went off sometime after 12. The field was fairly large and the announced they'd be pulling the weaker riders from the field. When the whistle blew, my friend Cheryl of Team Rockstar Games attacked... on the rollout. Sweet. I went with the move and according to Sam, about 10 riders did not. Then we popped a few more. Sadly, not enough.
The course is just about a mile and a half, flat with some sweeping curves. The wind was the only real factor and not really even that much on this particular day. Some transitions from light to shadow and curbs had some riders in a tizzy. It never ceases to amaze me that the least experienced riders (read: Sketchy) are always the loudest (read: bitchy). I was happy to have Pan Pan and Kristen out there from the NYC Metro team and a few other solid riders. I just tried to stay safe and away from any trouble. I could hear yelling behind me every few minutes (or seconds) and had a girl run into my butt once, but she didn't take me down, so no harm done.
At some point during the race, someone said, "Just follow Mandy, she'll keep you safe. She's always nice" - and that put a smile on my face. I'm happy to be liked by fellow riders. I try to just keep my mouth shut, hold my line and work my tail off. Ultimately, everyone is just trying to get better and we need to encourage women in the sport. Personally, I think the promoter would have done well to have a first-timers race or something of the sort, rather than an open race. While some of the newbies were strong, they were not skilled, not exactly an ideal combination and certainly not one you want at a Championship event.
A few of us attacked during the race, I attempted a few times and built a gap, but the organization just wasn't there for us to stay away. It came down to a group sprint and I knew I needed to be upfront going into the final turn (an off-camber and narrowing curve) and straightaway to be competitive. I heard the Metro girls coming up on my outside and wanted to go with them and lost touch when the curve threw me a little wide. I sprinted in - though sprinted is a loose term since I misjudged where the finish was and sat down to spin across the line - and ended up taking the Bronze in the CT Championship and a bit of cash home. Pan Pan and Kris beat me to the line and they earned it.
Sam and I watched the fantastic finale of the World Cup that afternoon and then went for a little run. It was the perfect end to a great weekend... and then I woke up in the middle of the night, sick. Yuck.
After chatting with the coach on Monday (and Sam, Mom and others before that), I made the decision to skip Ironman Lake Placid this year and focus on a later Ironman. I need to get healthy (really get rid of this Lyme) and get in my training. The season started out great and the Lyme just knocked out a bunch of my training time. Ultimately it came down to the fact that I don't need or want to do an Ironman just to finish it. I want to RACE. I want to WIN. And I will. So, I'm letting go of Placid this year. I'm sure I'll be back there at some point to race, but it's on to new prospects.