Cookeville Crit

Today's crit in Cookeville (about 1:15 away, but it took me at least 1:30 because we stopped on I-40 for about 15 minutes while they did utility work) was a fun one. It was my first bike race of the season, and it was a hilly course. I was just out to hang on as long as I could during the 30-minute race and sprint with what I had left at the end. Lisa C, Parri, Laura, Valerie, and I were the cat 4 riders, and Lisa S, Alli, Stephanie, Olga, Mary, and Marsha were the 1/2/3 riders.

I ended up getting dropped around 10 or 15 minutes in on the backside of the course. It was pretty much a seemingly short downhill toward the line and then a seemingly longer uphill on the backside. After I got dropped, I rode hard, like I was time-trialing, until Alli and Lisa C joined me. I don't remember how I lost them, but when Mary, who won, came up, I got on her wheel and stayed with her for as long as I could. She's strong. After at least a lap, she turned to me and asked whether I was lapped or a 4. I said both and that I'd help her whenever she needed me. A little while later she let me take a pull, and then a couple more. My last pull with her was up the hill, and then I couldn't stay so she pulled away.

With 5 laps to go, the rest of the field caught up to me and I stayed with them until the end (I didn't do my 5th lap, but since I finished on the same lap as the leader, I didn't need to). On the second-last lap, Lisa S started yelling at me to get out of the way. I didn't know why, but I moved out from being the second wheel. I wasn't really hurting anything, and I wasn't in the way at all. She told me later and you can jump back in but you can't interfere with the sprint (which I wouldn't have—there was another cat 4 lapped rider in the mix and we had to sprint it out for 3rd place anyway). Jay told me after that I was fine to jump back in like I did.

For the race, we went 10.86 miles in 30:09 (after 20-minute, 4.8-mile warmup) for an average of 21.6. Calories burned: 764. Max speed: 31.2. Average HR: 188. Max HR: 203. Including cooldown, it was 12.49 miles, 37:48, 19.8 avg, and 183 bpm HR. Because the Garmin is GPS-enabled, this looks really funny on the map!

Lisa was a little mad at me for working with Mary. Honestly, I wasn't out there to race Lisa's race. She is my friend and I want to see her win (she and the group had been catching up to Mary and then all of a sudden weren't and couldn't figure out why). However, I was out there to race my race—go as hard as I can for as long as I can and then push a little longer and ride a little faster. That's what I did, and I had fun. I might win or might not against all these girls this year, but no matter what I'm going to go out there and have fun and race my race. If that means helping someone who's ahead, then so be it.

On August 1, I received a plaque for my efforts: