The View from 58-inches High

This weekend was the Tour of Austin Bike race. Hopefully, what I will remember most about this race is coming in 2nd on Sunday and not the complete emotional breakdown it almost caused me trying to balance my home life, work, racing, and volunteering 3 slots at the event!!

Friday was the prolog time trial and, as much as I wanted to take this seriously, I just couldn’t. I don’t have TT equipment, and I don’t TT well. I didn’t really give it my all because I wanted to be fresh for the crits. I got 6th out of 9 ladies.

Saturday we were at the driveway again. I was hoping to place better in this race, but I made the mistake of eating a large sandwich too close to the race. I knew when I lined up that I was likely going to be fighting the urge to vomit the whole race. I was with the main group for a few laps when I started to feel bad. We came up on our second prime and I made the mistake of not sprinting with them, thinking they would slow down like they usually do. Not this time. I chased for 2 laps before figuring it was better to cut my losses and fall back to the group that was coming up on me. They rode the race like a typical cat-4 race. A few women doing the work, a couple hard efforts followed by a period of slowing down and letting everybody catch back on. I attacked as much as I could and worked at the front to keep the pace high hoping to drop some of the women who were saving themselves for the sprint, or at least tire them out. It came down to a pack sprint anyway. My second big mistake of the night was underestimating the tail wind and not starting my sprint with everybody else. I passed most of the field in my sprint but couldn’t quite pass the one girl I really wanted to pass. I didn’t even make mid-pack with 9th place finish out of 14 women who lined up. came in 3rd in the sprint for my group, but there were 5 cat-4s in the lead group.

Sunday I stayed in bed and rested all morning. I picked up bagels and lox at CM before heading to my shift at registration. I took it easy and ate early. Before my race, I ate a few clif blocks as well. I also made sure to stay hydrated. I wasn’t expecting a great race after the day before, which probably made me more relaxed about it. When we took off, I quickly got on Kim’s wheel and tried to stay on either her, Kelley, or Betty’s wheel. My goal was to just last. Kelley started to give up early and I had to go around her a few times. After a few laps, I realized that Nadia, Gracie, and I were the only 4’s. I knew based on yesterday that the other 4s would not work together to catch us. After a few more laps, there was an attack and I went around Gracie to chase it. I caught on and Gracie didn’t. Then it was just Nadia and I. Nadia did more work than I did, as it just wasn’t in my best interest. We passed the other 4’s with about 5 laps to go. In retrospect, this should have been a signal for me to start attacking, pulling, and protecting Kim more. My position was pretty sealed. I played it safe and let Kim fight her own battle. In the end, I didn’t expect the sprint to start so early and got popped off the back of the sprint. I came in about 5 seconds behind the leaders for 2nd. A great showing for me but I wish I had given more now.

When Monday rolled around, I was itching to race again. I had promised Brian I would tend to my housework though and I also had a ton of work to get done before the Portland trip. That combined with the iffy weather kept me from lining up. I hope I can store this enthusiasm for the next time though!!