Women's 123 Rock Hill Race

This was a tough day for me. Not looking forward to driving up to Rock Hill by myself on Saturday, I woke with some trepidation. I rallied "the troops" (me) and got going, stopping at the Starbuck's in Gaffney for an Americano, hoping the caffeine would get me jazzed up. A little confused with the directions once I got off of I85, but fortunately Jon had his cell phone handy and was able to verbally rescue me. I arrived a little too late for my liking, and realized I didn't know the accurate distance of the race nor much about the course at all. I did this race pre-Max, some 8 to 10 years ago, but the course had changed since then. Talk about a Randall no-no...I was very ill-prepared. Bang! Off goes the...cannon?

When I race, I like to get on the front and spend some time there so the women up there recognize me and know that I'm willing to ride hard and in the wind. Of course, I don't do this at my own expense. I think this pays off. When I was fortunate enough to race at some national and international events many years ago, if you sat in the back most of the time and tried to move forward, you would get shut down FAST, but if you did your time at/on the front they would give you an inch here and there, which makes all the difference in the world!

I spent the first half of the race staying forward, pulling, chasing, jumping, and altogether enjoying myself even though my legs felt they'd rather stay a steady pace than surge on and off. I had a pretty good feeling that there was not likely going to be a break as there were many strong women who wanted to be in it, which probably amounted ot about 90% of our group. So I drifted to the back for the first time and saw the rest of the riders who never see the wind. I stayed there for a while, but two things happened: First, I watched a crash occur right in front of me on a straightaway when a girl drifted to her right for no apparent reason, bumped a girl taking a drink, and she, in turn, took out 4 or 5 riders. Fortunately, I avoided. Later on, I saw a 200M sign...could this be the end of the race, already? NO!!! QOM! And I'm at the back! (I am SO NOT PREPARED!!!) Off goes a group of about 8 girls...8 fast girls...they could have been the break..they SHOULD have been the break, and I SHOULD have been in it, if I wasn't in the back!!! I knew I had to get my butt up there and not let this happen so I pushed my way through, got on the front and did my part of the chase. Fortunately, the group off the front didn't see the opportunity they had and didn't get organized, and there were still many strong legs left to chase. Needless to say, it was likely going to come down to a field sprint with a field of what looked like a bunch of sprinters.

One thing I have been working hard on personally is to get myself in a good position going into a finish of a race (it helps when you've proved you can be up there earlier during the race!). This is not always easy, but think I had a good position this time and really should be happy. But when it came time to GO, I completely bailed! The 1km to go sign came up and we were flying already...I love endings like this. I was near the yellow line near the front, not on it...perfect. But people started pulling around me on my left over the yellow line...they will probably get disqualified. Girls were screaming at them, but more followed, with more screaming, and other screaming besides. Everytime someone screamed, I cringed, until finally I just sat up. I completely gave up. I "raced" almost the entire race, knew it would come down to a sprint, and stopped racing when it counted.

I know I need to look at what I did right, and not what I did wrong. But there is a lesson in this for me, and for everyone: The trepidation before and during the race, being ill-prepared before and during the race, and not "racing" the entire time you are at a RACE. We work so hard on preparing ourselves physically for a race with riding, intervals, hill work, drills, etc. There is way more to it than that! But in the end, that's one of the great things about this sport: it's way more complicated than just riding a bike.