hello again, kans-ass.

so this past weekend the boulderites of velo bella drove to kc- back to my roots, and where i started this crazy cult-like following calling cyclocross. amy dombroski, natasha cowie, casey klein (my dog) and i packed into my jetta wagon and headed towards the icy abyss.

we got a late start wednesday, and got into lawrence where we stayed with my coach and good friend adam mills. after sleeping in until about 1pm thursday we headed to the course which was a mud pit. not exactly what i was expecting, since the last time i rode this course it was fast and dry. after one lap i was pretty much done- wet cold and covered with mud. after a few sprints and feeling like total crap, we headed back to rest up and clean clothes- we were getting good at the mud cleaning thing- with plenty of experience from portland.
the next day i was racing the masters race- yeah i know- i am now a master! ha! it was nice to have such a big tent area set up for us, and with only anna milkowski, shannon gibson and i racing, we had plenty of space and support. it was fabulous. shannon raced before us, and won her race. awesome. as soon as i went to the start line, the sun went away and the temperature dropped about 10 degrees. the mud and turned to peanut butter from previous races so it was a struggle to keep the pedals turning. after the start, i warmed up fast and felt really good- my legs felt strong but i had lost the front group. i hovered around top 10 for the whole race. at the end, i was with 2 other girls which made for a great last lap and hard sprint. my legs were tired, but i felt good about my 7th place finish. unfortunately anna had some mechanicals which set her back- i will later in the weekend be able to relate to her issues....
saturday morning i woke up early (well, not as early as natasha and amy who got to the venue before the sun came up- crazy u-23's) to watch our youngsters of the team tear it up in the snow and ice. there weren't many people out watching which was a shame, since amy dominated the race. natasha was not far behind, gritting her teeth to push through the rutted up icy course. i was so proud of them- i ran around the course cheering like crazy and taking pics. probably not the best thing to do before the elite race the next day...
we did a little trainer time in the hotel room saturday, which is always fun- nothing like sweating like crazy while inhaling burning rubber and watching bad tv. good times.
sunday came around fast- and before we knew it we were all on the trainers under the tent (all 12 of us) preparing for the biggest race of the season. all the traveling to chase points, all the intervals and training, all the time and money spent to get to this point in the season came down to this one race. no pressure- ha!
amy and i sneaked onto the course to get a quick preride in to see how it had changed since the day before- every day of the weekend the course was different. today, the sun was out which meant that the top surface had melted, but the icy ruts were still underneath. this made for some really technical riding, which i was fine with- time to pull out the mtb skillz.
i was lined up 3rd row, not too bad considering there were almost 100 girls. i had a great start, being in the top 15 or so. i crashed early on the dirt, trying to take a line that was a little risky. getting back going, i knew i could make up some time. i felt good, and i knew i had the potential to do well on this course. on the second lap, i flatted. but i knew that riding it to the pit and switching bikes wouldn't set me back too much. wrong. the pit crew wasn't ready for me, and although i appreciated the volunteers helping our team out, it would have been good to have them know who i was. so i spent some time in the pits. a lot of time. after rolling my tubular i went to switch bikes again, and the same story. i stood in the pit waiting for a bike. i crashed and bent my handle bar so i wanted to switch bikes. i came into the pit one last time, and again there was no bike- "give her a bike!' someone yelled as i stood there, watching girls pass by. they grabbed a bike off the rack- it was amy dombroski's bike. yeah, its size 45 or something. i jumped on it and i felt like i was in the circus- my knees were hitting the handle bars when i sat and pedaled, so i had to stand the last lap. thats not easy to do on ice. so, needless to say i placed horribly, and i was pretty upset about the whole thing. mechanicals happen, and bad bike changes happen, but not 4 times in one race. uhhh. next year i will do things different- i will take this as a learning experience, and know that things can go wrong- its part of racing. some things are preventable-and for next year i will make sure this doesn't happen again.
the season is over, and now its time to hang out without the bike, at least for a few weeks. it was a good first attempt at doing the bigger cross races, and my first time chasing points. i am hoping to get a little better for next year, and possibly accompany barb and wendy across the pond...
but for now its time to get the snowboard out, dust off the skate skis and enjoy all the snow and the mountains here in boulder...