NC.Com Crit #6

Tuesday's recovery ride

Monday was a rest day; I walked 2 miles at lunch and 4 miles in the afternoon but did nothing else besides a few push ups. Tuesday was a recovery day. I walked 3 miles at lunch and then rode for 93 minutes what turned out to be a GREAT ride. The weather was perfect, my legs felt great, and I went exploring. Turns out Pleasant Hill Road really is pleasant :-) Also, Sunset Road and Ragsdale Road are two of my favorite roads on the east side of I-65. Considering I rode on all 3, it had to be a good ride!

Shannon, me, and AJ. We wore the stripes today for the holiday

Wednesday I hit the True treadmill for 5K in the morning, and my legs felt really good. This is always my indicator for the evening race, and I was encouraged. We had a fairly large field (18 ladies) for our race that night, but it was only Shannon, AJ, and me from Team Belladium. Usually we are very aggressive because we have the numbers; tonight we played a very different game.

SVMIC, I AM Racing, and Belladium were the three main teams, and our lead group was Jes/Katie (SVMIC), Jess/Rachel (IAR), and AJ/Shannon/me (Bd). Shannon covered the first attack while AJ and I sat back to see what else would happen. When we caught them, AJ covered the next attack. We caught her and either Jes or Katie (I forget who), and I countered. That wasn't necessarily the plan, but I felt like Jes, Katie, and Jess were all significantly compromised that it would be worth it. I got caught, but it still felt like a good attack.

At some point (from my Garmin it looks like 18:30 in to the 30-minute race), I realized that Jess C was no longer with us. She is one of the top 3 overall, so it would have benefited us immensely if we had been able to create separation between her and us. I went to the front for a couple laps to drive the pace and never saw Jess. Then, with 6 to go (min 22), I saw her coming out of the wheel pit to join us. I should have known where she was and didn't, and I definitely should have known she was in the pit. Had I known, I wouldn't have done so much work. But it is what it is. I continued hard but started thinking about the finish.

I could tell that the other girls were getting tired, and I knew Shannon could attack and force the hand of at least one SVMIC girls and possibly Jess. However, the message didn't get to her as clearly as I'd hoped, and she didn't attack. Instead, she waited until just before the bell and started to pick up the pace for a leadout. I had found AJ's wheel when 3 to go and stayed there, and when she moved around Shannon I was right where I needed to be. Just after the 6th of 8 turns I came around her for the sprint finish. I knew at the bell that we'd have it, but it seemed afterward that she was more concerned than I was :-)

I finished in 1st, Jess 2nd, Jes 3rd, Katie 4th, AJ 5th, and Shannon 6th. It was a pretty leadout and exactly as hard as it should have been, so I was happy. I know the girls would have hoped for higher placing, but sometimes after you do your job (lead out) it's hard to do someone else's job too (sprint). I'm proud of them for a good hard effort, and I'm especially happy with a win!

Race #6, 7-03-13: 31:05, 11.98 miles, 23.1 mph, 184 bpm, 1/18 and 1/5 Cat 2s
Race #5, 6-26-13: 29:26, 10.92 miles, 22.3 mph, 183 bpm, 6/23 and 4/5 Cat 2s
Race #4, 6-19-13: 29:48, 11.89 miles, 23.9 mph, 186 bpm, 5/19 and 3/4 Cat 2s
Race #3, 6-12-13: 28:48, 10.73 miles, 22.3 mph, 189 bpm, 2/18 and 1/3 Cat 2s
Race #2, 5-29-13: 30:39, 11.31 miles, 22.1 mph, 2/18 and 2/4 Cat 2s
Race #1, 5-22-13: 35:36, 12.88 miles, 21.7 mph, 4/14 and 2/3 Cat 2s (incorrect time and mileage)