Tuesday, March 24, 2009

lady in blue and the big girls.

on saturday i attended the lank park criterium. i believe our race was supposed to be 35 minutes, which i think got cut further, because we had a delayed start. at the beginning of the race, the official told us there would be 6 primes. this basically meant that there was a prime on every lap, except the first lap and bell lap.

upon completition of lap one, we heard our first bell for a prime. lady in blue and some other mere mortal rolled off the front and got a little gap. i felt content letting them dangle off the front that lap, cause what ever stays away in the cat4 field? but then a lap later, i felt like it was about time to reel them back in, considering i probably saw the 9-to-go card at that point. so for the next twenty or so minutes i worked really hard and totally exhausted myself. the lady in blue was such an ox that she ran the other girl off her wheel quite quickly, who came back into the pack. the lady in blue must not have felt the gusts of wind, as she kept gaining time on the field, despite a very hard effort. with three to go, i knew it was totally helpless, and sat in and tried to recover for the sprint. people jumped far too early, and i rode wheels and popped around at the end. i timed my sprint a bit too close for comfort, but at least it made for an exciting last couple of seconds. after the race i got to shake the lady in blue's hand, who was wearing a blue jacket over her blue jersey. i believe i said something very awesome to her like: "please, let me shake your hand, lady in blue." well, i didn't really say the 'lady in blue' part, but i did think it. i am happy to say that the lady in blue was quite gracious and classy. i hope to see more of the lady in blue.

as for the next day, i got talked into going to hanford criterium. despite the incredible long drive, it was quite a fun affair! i got to race with the big girls. not THE big girls-- cause they were probably in southern california getting ready for redlands, but there were some big girls to race with, as it was an open women's field. i was kind of nervous being a lowly cat4, but it was a perfect first race cause the field was small and the course was just lots of turns, which didn't make it fast or anything. i think we were doing 30 laps, and for the first 5 laps i just sat at the back to get a feel for things. then i moved into the middle and felt okay. no one yelled at me, so i take that as a good sign, especially considering i looked afool wearing a bunch of flowers.

2 comments:

Garrett Lau said...

"Please, let me shake your hand, lady in blue." That's a great line. I expect you and the lady in blue to be racing together in the 3's soon.

I saw Mark Adkison's photos of the finish. That was very close!

runjoelrun said...

Lady in Blue was strong no doubt. It was a fun race to watch.

Nice work Beth!