Spring Fling of Cycling - First race of 09

After a long off season it’s great to finally start the race season. I had kicked off the year with a couple training crits but now it was time for the real thing.

The Jan 31-Feb 01 weekend was the "Spring Fling of Cycling" with a circuit on Saturday and a long road race on Sunday.

On Saturday all the women raced with the masters 55+. The course was flat with 3 hard corners. The women pro,1,2,3 only had 2 riders, including myself. The majority of our field was masters.
From the gun a masters rider punched it. I followed but the group quickly settled in behind us. The rest of the race was fairly uneventful. There were a couple attacks and a prime. I tried to stay at the front for the entire race, and for the most part I did manage to stay up there.

The last 2 laps were fast. I was 3rd wheel at the beginning of the second to last lap. We were surged by the field. I ended up blowing myself up and finished behind the field.

The second day was a 56 mi road race. The women1,2,3 raced with the 35+ men. We had a much better showing than the day before. We ended up with about 10 women at the start of the race. I was feeling pretty good. My plan of attack, race smart and hang in.

The first lap I tried to stay near the front and memorize the course. After the first right turn about 2 mi from the start there was a barely paved, bumpy road. It was about a mile long. The rest of the course was nice though. It had a couple little rollers and a nice descent. About 1.5 mi from the finish there was a nice little hill. It wasn't really bad though. Just enough to make your legs hurt.

Lap 2. I was feeling good. I was about mid pack. When we came around that first right turn someone slid out and took about 3 or 4 other riders down. I skidded but didn’t slide out. I sprinted and got back into the field. The crash had taken down one of the stronger women. I looked around there was only 5 or so women in the field. "Keep Going"

I didn't know how many laps we had in our race. Around half way through the 3rd lap I asked a guy I knew...he said "oh about 2 more"
"that’s not so bad...I can make that, easy" so I thought. As we came around the finish "4 laps remaining" HA! I still felt pretty good. I tossed my empty bottle. Half way there.

The fourth lap was not spectacular. A couple attacks and I got a feed, but nothing of major note.

On the fifth lap there was an attack. It turned out to be the winning break...the next two laps were hard. I was getting tired. I had eaten all my cliff shots and felt low on energy. There was a crash half way through the lap. A guy blew his tire and took out 3 other guys.

Half Lap to go: I could feel it at the top of my calves. It was my muscles quivering. I pushed it aside. It was down to me and one other girl in the main field and one girl off the front. My calves seemed to tremble every time I got out of the saddle.

The pro 1,2 field was about to catch us with 3 miles to go. I hoped it might slow it down a bit. Nope. We hit the final hill. I couldn't pedal anymore. I paced myself. The field was right there. Just not close enough... I ended up getting 3rd and finishing a minute or two behind the field. It was a hard and fast race. It was a confidence boost to know I could hang with the 35+. I just got to get those finishes down.

My next race is the Gainesville crit. All the women race together and this race always bring out the big guns. It should be a good one.

ciao