What a weekend! Before the River Falls race on Saturday, we spoke about our goals considering BMW/Bianchi was there in full force with 7 women, the always powerful Lees-McRae had 3 or 4 youngsters, our local friends from the Kenda squad had 4, plus a smattering of other very capable riders and climbers. Keeping it simple:
1. If there is a break, one of us needs to be in it. So if something goes without one of us, we will have to work hard to bridge or bring it back.
2. If it is you in the break, do everything it takes to stay in the break (aka NOT get dropped), which means, do not do a lick of work if your close to red lining, even if the other girls are screaming at you (and they will!).
We did exactly as we planned, which sometimes is not an easy thing to do. Debbie, Sam and I were at the front consistently, I luckily got in the break, and luckily stayed in it. Weinecker was building confidence and finished the race in the front of the pack. I watched their finish and didn't see anyone finish between the break and Weinecker, but somehow there are two women in between on the finish list. Who knows what happened there. Debbie, who now is officially a climber, was 10th and Sam 16th. Every person on the finish list was a great rider. Nobody would sign up for that race unless they were serious!
In the Cat 4 women's race KP finished 3rd and Brady 8th. Lots of strong women there as well. Let us know the gory details, ladies!
Sunday's Donaldson pre-race meeting had the same goals as Saturdays, with us having much more confidence. All categories of women raced together with the decision being made at the starting line...I wish we had more heads up than that! Kristi, KP and Brady were in without much notice. A very fast start and first lap saw some early attrition. The rest of the race was either very fast or very slow. Nobody got away. Headstrong was active throughout the race and Weinecker was not NEAR the front, but ON the front for what seemed like forever. After the race, she admitted it was easier there! Love it!!! Headstrong ended up 3,6, 11 and 12 in the 123's...that's a lot of purple finishing forward. The 4's finished 7, 13, and 14...great showing in a chaotic finish. I'd love to hear their stories! GREAT day...except for the crash that I apparently caused...
4 comments:
You guys are a force to be reckoned with and you motivate me a lot.
Had a great time racing with ya G.
I always knew we had some awesome female athletes, and now it appears that you all are starting to gell as a team. Great job ladies!
How great to know that we have each other's backs. Awesome.
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