West Side Classic Cat 4
I must be honest here and admit that the only reason I did this race was because I was given a free entry. I still have (had?) a very healthy fear of the unknown when it comes to Road Racing and that fear was enough to convince myself that I needed more time to prepare. But with the free entry, I figured that it would be a good experience and something I could use to help my clients if they should chose to road race in the future. I went in with lots of nervous energy and no real game plan except not to crash and not to get dropped. The girls were strong but nobody wanted to push the pace so we had a few easy laps to warm up. After the second lap (of a total of 5 ) it became clear that only four of us were willing to put in any work. So we started to work together, taking turns pulling so we wouldn't exhaust ourselves pulling the rest of the group. At the end of the 4th lap, Diane started to pull away. I could see her ahead going for the sprint, but I was too far back to jump on her wheel. I hesitated too long and by the time I jumped on my pedals she was gone and I had only made a dent in the distance between me and the group of girls behind me. Still I tried to go for it. If I could only get on her wheel - I could recover enough to hold it for one more lap. I sprinted with all I had until I saw the gap closing in on me and I was once again swallowed up by the pelaton. I moved into third place and tried to recover. Lucky for me, Stephanie decided to pull us for the last lap and only gave up the front once we reached the hill. By this time, everyone was a bit tired and nobody took the opportunity to sprint the hill. We eased up the hill and everyone lined up single file as we slowly recovered at the top, gliding down towards the finish. As the last corner came into view, I felt like I had the opportunity to go and it was now or never. I jumped out of second place (where I was being nicely protected) and sprinted for the last corner. I hit the corner too hard and almost over shot it! But as I careened around the corner and up the last short hill, I pushed hard on the pedals, putting my entire body into the bike. I started to breathe like I was attempting to suck my lungs out of my chest and spit them on the pavement. I didn't look back. I could hear the bikes behind me and that was enough to push me further, faster, harder - until I crossed the line and won second place!
