skyway crit: day three
woke up and the forecast was like “RAIN”. dang.
after work, i rode the train home and ate some leftovers, put on my warmest waterproof pants and sweater and coat, and rode down to calumet park. didn’t feel so bad with all the gear on.
after storing my stuff in the locker room, i hung out in the vestibule with bff. someone brought latex gloves, which i assumed would help with wet hands (i was wrong). chris came to watch and had to be about the only spectator that day (super points). wind + rain + cold = everybody just stay at home.
today the direction of the course was reversed to run clockwise. we did a group lap then lined up at the start. i tried to adjust my gears and my chain dropped. i flipped my bike over to put it back on. the bell rung - and, bike still upside down - i flipped it and got rolling. weird start. (note: get into the right gear before the start line)
we started into a headwind that nobody wanted to pull into. but, a wheel emerged on the backstretch and we got in line. second lap was a prime and christine took off. i led the chase (headwind 1) to catch. we caught her and elizabeth smartly counter attacked on the backstretch and got away from the group. the rest of the pack sat on anna’s wheel and tried to make her work, bff was adamant about this. she slowed way down which gave us all no chance of catching elizabeth. (note: counter attacks can be real effective)
with the leader swerving into the headwind to get us off, i got sick of it and charged ahead (headwind 2). i was quickly caught by some smart ladies and just got reabsorbed into the pack. they kept me on the front though, and i pulled for another lap (headwind 3). after a lap of rest, i tried to attack on the backstretch and was caught again (note: work on sprints).
so im at count 3 on pulling into the headwind. not at all a smart decision, but i like to think its making me stronger, even if im not winning the race right now. (note: at some point you have to stop this)
on the last lap, a bff did a huge pull on the backstretch that was supposed to be for a teammate, but she missed it and several other ladies jumped on. i fell off the back a little and was working pretty hard to stay on. we turned into the headwind and i couldnt catch a wheel. there were about 3 little groups of 2-3 riders sprinting towards the finish. i felt myself slipping back and just stood up to give it the last of my body. at this point, shifting wasnt an option - my hands were numb and frozen in place (note: waterproof gear).
tomorrow is the last day of the skyway crit. attacking was fun and tiring. so i will try more of that.
*photo by: ronit bezalel
finish: 7th
