This weekend started as so many do, me being late to the team vans to leave town. I just get so excited about the weekend that I try to cram too much in before we leave.  |
| Kaila and I before the hill climb |
The races went well, we had the hill climb on Saturday and I had my coach to try to chase down ahead of me. I have done the climb before and had done some good practice hill climbs last week to prepare, so I felt pretty confident.
The climb goes up lookout mountain, it is about a 4% grade and is 4.7 miles. It took me 23 min 10 seconds this year (which is about 2 min faster than last year). I was happy with my race, I really love hill climbs, especially when I can stay focused! I think what helped me this year was knowing my heart rate, and knowing when and how hard to push it. |
| Photo Cred: SummitShots.com |
After the race a bunch of us went on a road ride out to Red Rock Amphitheater, which is always a good time. The best part of the race weekends with the FLC team, besides the racing, is spending some good quality time together...on bikes. Squishing the team into little 15 pack vans can make us hate each other, so any time we have the opportunity for a beautiful team ride, it is good to hop on it!
Sunday we drove to Denver for the oval crit, also known as goose poop crit. In the women's A race we almost hit two grannies and 4 geese. It was a good day for bike racing for sure.
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Basking in the sun at Red Rocks
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| Trying to be as tall as Tilly (lft) and Lauren (rt) |
Other than dodging obstacles, we raced a little bit too. I attacked the field in the first 10 min and Lauren Catlin countered my attack with another rider. The two of them formed a break which stayed away the rest of the race. Missy and I slowed the pack down and followed any girl who tried to bridge the gap.
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| Lauren in the break, and Chris giving some coaching wisdom mid-race |
About mid race I broke away from the pack alone and tried to bridge up to my teammate to give us a 2 vs. 1 kind of deal, but didn't quite have the stamina for the complete move. Plus, I was nervous that the pack had sped up to chase me and the last thing I wanted to do was bring the whole group back together, even though I'm 100% confident in my teammate Missy Erickson to win the field sprint.
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| Missy and I riding in circles in Denver |
The race ended up with FLC winning, thank you Lauren, and I lead Missy out for her 2nd place sprint. I think I ended up 6th, but was really happy that my team and I raced so smart.
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| Again, more circles... |
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| and more... |
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| and possibly more circles! |
