was a sunburn. yes, a sunburn! turns out 25th place isn't even enough for a "i particpated" ribbon, but spending 2.5 hrs outdoors on a sunny 50 degree day isn't anything to complain about...
i headed down to Hillsboro right after my day job friday. one cup of coffee stop and one emergency detour to a bike shop put me on the road at 830pm. the following morning looked to be a good weather day. lining up w/ the rest of the womens open riders, i was once again nervous and i still had some rib issues. it was nice to have jessi and marylin up there, but still...32 riders (by my last count) was 30 more than my last race and this was a much tougher course...with a neutal start out to the rural roads, a couple of uphills and descents lead to more flat roads, lots of wind, some gravel roads, some shorter hills, back towards town to hit the 2 big climbs, into another descent that lead to bricks and back to the start/finish line. Each lap = 22 miles and my cat had 2 laps.
my plan for this race was to stay near the front for the climbs. hills and i, we don't have the greatest relationship. i figured if i could stay towards the front, i'd only drift toward the middle, rather than starting in the back and end up getting dropped. sounded good, but didn't work out right. for some odd reason, the descents put some fear into me and instead of trying to gain some ground, i was getting passed. before i knew it, i was starting the climbs near the back . About halfway thru the 1st lap, i ended up getting dropped, but still had the pack in sight. i caught on with a stl trek rider and said we should work together. a few miles later, we caught up with two more, an iscorp (yvonne) and a mack (katie). mile after mile, we just continued to paceline and at the 15 mile mark, a lady yelled out "just 7 more to go!" not really, we had 7 more miles til we started the 2nd lap. coming up to the big climbs, we caught on w/ another two riders (team revolution and kenda). i almost turned the wrong way b/c i swear the course marshall was pointing left, but maybe it was b/c i saw the hill ahead...like i said b4, hills and i just don't get along and my idea is to just get it over with as fast as possible. i would pull away from the paceline at this point, not to intentionally breakaway, but not realizing i was going faster. at the top of the 2nd hill, i wondered out loud "what am i doing here, i hate hills" to which K said "then why are you charging up every single one?!" I was?
Heading down towards the bricks, i was still nervous about the descent. we didn't paceline much on the bricks, but all started working together again once we passed the start/finish line. I said outloud "one to go!" but either no one heard me or didn't think it was funny, but it made me laugh. the womens cat4 was coming back in as we headed out and i yelled out to Dawn and Gina (who finished 25th and 26th!). on the first descent, i got my nerve back up and just took off...but then no one was behind me? we were coming to the first uphill, i slowed up and got back in line. Once out on the road again, we got organized by TR and Kenda...we started an echelon (which i've only attempted once b4 and i pretty much messed it up) but it was great to actually have it work! Our 6 person paceline worked well together for the most part and the 2nd lap seemed to go a lot faster. Around the 12 mile mark, we dropped two riders, but picked up another TR. She worked with us for awhile, but then it was back to the four (me, Y, TR, and Kenda). There was some talk about when to we would stop this teamwork for the final sprint. I voted for after the bricks, but found out later it was decided to be at the top of the 2nd big climb. I started to feel some pain in my side and my breathing was getting short, but i was almost done, i could deal w/ that later. Coming closer to the 1st big climb, i asked if anyone would notice if we just turned left and made a grand show of a final sprint...someone replied that maybe we could get past the officials, but then the other cats coming the opposite way might notice. Eh, probably right. So we climbed. Once again, i just tried to get over the hill...again, another comment made about slowing down for the paceline. me? since when do i need to slow down?
At the top of the 2nd climb, Y took off with TR close behind? i was confused, i thgt this wasn't happening til after the bricks, but i had heard wrong. ok, time to stop worrying about the descent and i went after them. i caught up to TR and attempted to catch Y, but wasn't able to. i finished 2nd in our group and 25th in my cat.
So, overall, this race surprisingly enjoyable. the bright spots? 1) well, jessi took 5th! i didn't see the final results of the other cats, so i'm unsure of the other ABDers. 2) the 44 miles went by quicker than i expected, the weather was great, and the race was very well run. the hills were challenging but not as difficult as i imagined. while my goal was to stay with the main pack, i was glad that i didn't get dropped completely and ended up working together with some really good riders. a lesson in echelons, pacelining, and communication...getting in the drops and attempting to go aero...not completely hating the hills...and of course some advil for my ribs...
