Spring Training Race!

Picture it! Sicily, 1932. There stood on a line of Cat 1,2,3's a young (!) category 4 cyclist. Ok, maybe not Sicily, but someplace in Ohio.

First race of the season! One bonus of being the wife of a great cyclist is the travel. While I would never in my newby dreams drive 6 hours to race one race by myself, hubby found back to back races this past weekend and off we went. While Burke raced both days, I decided Sunday would be the day to throw down.

The weather was a solid 10 degrees cooler than the weather people (Thanks Channel 17) reported with 15-20mph winds. Not ideal, but hey, it wasnt snowing. The course was a 12 mile loop with a few rollers and a few bitchin climbs. I can say bitchin, cant I?

Lining up was slightly intimidating as the fields were combined. Nothing like racing with the 1,2,3's! Secret Cycling was the dominating team with a total of 7 riders in the field. I hung on long enough (12 miles) to watch as Secret controlled the race while a number of smaller teams attempted attacks. It was exciting to actually see team tactics at play.

After finally 'uncle'ing, I fell back and caught on with two cat 3's. One blew up but the other and myself kept going. We passed several men (yay!) and made some good ground. Thirty five miles later, I was smack dab in the middle of the 3/4's. I also received a compliment from a male racer on my awesome colored kit ;)

Lessons learned:
1. You dont need a great bike to be a cat 2. This chick had a bike 10 years old...a 9 speed for cryin out loud!
2. The 2's dont screw around.
3. The Super 8 in Cincinnati, OH is scary. As in, sleeping at 3:45am and some drunk dude comes banging on the door, asking, 'Is this Emily's room??' I didnt know why he'd be knocking on motel room doors looking for an Emily...Burke caught on quickly and filled me in.
4. Crashing 5 feet after your group takes off is embarrassing. Sorry to the mens cat 5 that did. Poor guy. Even more apologies to the guys that had to ride next to him for 35 miles.
5. When jockeying for pre-race port-o-potty time, wiggle yourself behind 3-4 guys. The seat is guaranteed to be dry and hopefully de-tinkled from the women who hover....which is all of us.