The quest for butter ... (Joe Martin Part 3)

Jessi and Sue finally sat down for dinner, after riding 34 miles, being caught in the eye of the storm and then continuing to race uphill before the next tornado came in, a big problem arose. Breakfast didn't start until 630am and we raced at 8am. Tune in now for The Quest for Butter...

Our race fuel was in jeopardy. We had found out that breakfast wasn't served until 630 and that would really be pushing it. Without our plate of hashbrowns, the next option was bagels. Plain bagels wouldn't do and while sour cream is apparently an option, the J's first choice was butter. We happened upon a Walgreens and we were able to rest well knowing catastrophe had been avoided. (The next morning, we were awaken to smells of hashbrowns and biscuits...apparently brekkie came early that morning and the butter wasn't necessary...)

Loaded up the car, headed the 1.5 miles to the crit course. A short 25 mins of racing on a 1.1 mile course with one large hill, one awesome descent, some slighty more than false flats, and lots of turns, i couldn't wait. It was really chilly (40 degrees) and windy (hmm...was there a tornado the previous morning?) and i opted for pants...except i left them in the hotel. darn it! Oh and i had one full fingered glove. I did have my huge 'cross gloves but decided it wasn't necessary. I would regret that after standing at the start line for 15 mins. But anyway, cold and wind aside, i was excited for this race. I love crits and ones with hills are even better. Got J set to roll out and warm up, and now its my turn to get ready. Its only 715...plently of time. Or not, the next thing i hear is the announcer saying "5 mins to race time! course is closed!" WHAT?! Ok, so pedaled around for like 2 secs, headed to the start line, J's already there. We line up next to each other, complain about the cold, check out who is in the field. 5 mins pass...10 mins pass...i see the clock by the announcer say 815. What is going on? I so could've used that extra 15 mins to warmup. Finally, the officials say the course is clear and "LADIES, ARE YOU READY?!" Yes.

Except i'm not. Gun goes off, one rider attacks from the start. I push off...clip in...wait, clip in...my pedal smacks into the back of my leg...push it around, finally get the foot in and i'm done. The other riders took off on that attack and i'm struggling just to catch the last rider. I still can see the pack in front and i think that maybe if i catch on to a couple of riders, the hill will slow the front down and we could get back. Try as i may, i did pass a few riders, said outloud "lets work together, we can get 'em!" but i didn't have anyone on my wheel. while it would have been easier just to stay on someone's wheel, i wasn't going to give it...yet. I had overheard someone the day b4 tell one of their teammates "Don't give up! This is your moment and you'll never have this one moment again! PUSH IT!" and this is what i heard in my head. Granted my race was done, i wasn't going to catch the front pack, but i drove all the way to AR, rode the crazy hills and this was the last stage of the race. Crappy circumstances, but at least i know i rode as well as i could with it.

One positive though to my finishing is that the officials pull us one lap b4 the front pack was to come in. B/c of this, i got to see J in a sprint finish and take 3rd place. She finished with a GC of 10th and I finished 29th. It was a lot of fun, i look forward to this race again next year just i could do without the tornados...