Sorry for the delay. Work and early morning training has cut into the blogging. Three stages in two days in beautiful Lancaster, County, PA where the weather was perfect for staying home to garden (4/28 & 29)
I pre-registered to whip myself into shape. Brad left early as his race started at 9 a.m. This year, the first wave of races had the opportunity of racing right by Floyd Landis's home in Farmersville.
Brad woke my arse early so I could move my car out of the driveway. Oh, he couldn't do that himself?! So I putzed around the house as my start was noon. I decided to ride to the course because I am a social butterfly chatting up with my racing buddies I haven't seen in a year and my warm-up somehow goes out the window. Gardening the front yard, I start to talk myself out of racing. I go through this head game every season. This year seems a little rougher, though. I'm taking my indoor plants outside for the season, I do some laundry, clean up the kitchen, bag some weeds, ... too much time on my hands before I needed to leave.
I eat a stage race breakfast. Swedish Pancakes, two eggs, juice and coffee. You would think I was racing 60+ miles. Ha! Only 30. But 30 would be enough after I ride at least 15 miles to the race.
Luckily, I find companions to ride with me to the race so I don't blow it off. Ernie and Glenn Lapp may have been unlucky to have my company because I yammered all the way, working myself into a basket of nerves like this was my first bike race ever. I even questioned what was in the coffee. Usually, we drink half caff, but I found out after the race it was full test.
We get to the road race course and I ride up the new part of the race to see the guys climb. I hang out with Floyd's sister, Priscilla and her boyfriend, Manuel - who also races. Again, talking non-stop. Fast forward to my race. I am a little behind on the race report so let's see if I can wrap it up.
Awesome field of 55+ women lined up for an open women's 30 mile (5 laps) road race on country roads that barely accommodate two car lanes. Yellow line rule in affect. I hate the fight to get to the front anymore so I started in the back and closed gaps for 2 1/2 laps. The pack hollered "SLOWING", "BREAKING" for 5 laps. The wind was pretty strong so I know from experience that the riders in the front were working their tails off. Why ride through the rider in front of you? Some of these women need to go to a training camp to learn about the ebb and flow of a road race. I tried moving up because I am getting too old to fall down but the pack "flushed" me to the back. (a new term I learned after 15 yrs of racing! I had fun with it as I got flushed a lot) Oh well, so I enjoyed the scenery and waved to Floyd's parents for three of the laps.
With two laps to go, we dropped enough riders that I eventually moved up the left side of the pack after the covered bridge. The wind was coming from the left and there was a clear path to the front. Woohoo! I had to laugh when someone yelled; "up, up, up", because I was not moving too fast as it took me a while to get to the front. I say hello to some of my buddies and get my nose out of the wind. I needed to take advantage of my position of fourth wheel. I hold the position for at least 2 miles and we rolled through the start/finish for the bell lap. The second turn is off camber and the front riders punched it up a notch. Okay, my legs were turning but I think the engine cut out, flushed to the back in an instant. I resigned myself to the chaos of a downgrade sprint finish. My heart was pounding out of my jersey as we slowed up for the last mile as 40 women jockeyed for position.
When I registered at the last minute for this race, I eyed up the roster. I marked a rider and she happened to be in the back with me with one to go. I reminded myself before the start of the race that this race was going to be about patience. I thought about how in the world were we going to get from the back of the pack to the front. Patience. I knew we had the whole road with 1 km to go. The moto reminded us we had the whole road with 1 km to go. My heart sank as we crawled to the 1 km marker with the tension high. The 1 km was a slight grade up and a slight grade down. Wind coming from the right. I am all choked up with sweaty palms trying to recall this finish. The rock star was Lauren Shirock. I stuck to her wheel like Gorilla glue. She rolled up the far left side of the road. Far left side on the edge, treading the gravel. I shut the brain down. I sucked wheel. It was beautiful. We rolled to the front, somehow came to the center of the road, I hear metal bending from the right side of the road, see Susan Hefler trying to catch us on the right, Lauren's gears click into her hardest cog and she rips my legs off. (Later I learn her gears are JR gears of 54/14!! And she was sick, too. Did I say rock star?! ) My brain turns on and all the pain and suffering kicked in. I buried myself, with patience and trust in Lauren's talent. I started to come unglued at the 200 meter sign. I swear she started to get a gap on me. Out of the corner of my eye, Heidi Woolever came around me on the left. I tried to go around Lauren on the right. There really was no going around but I just did not know who else might come around. The phenom gets me third! I was elated. So elated that as an afterthought, I geekishly threw my arms up for 3rd! Of course, I am so high from adrenaline that I forgot that I threw my arms up until later that night - so no wonder I was so confused why some women in the race had congratulated me - I was thinking - for my 3rd place finish! We rolled around the first turn and I thanked Lauren profusely for getting me third. Yammering a mile a minute, pouring her accolades. Poor girl, I think I scared her. :-) Caffeine, Patience and Luck.
