(Road Racing: Not my forte, but that's okay, still has 2 wheels, it's fun to go out and play with the roadies from time to time. This pic is from the I Love Goshen Crit taken from their facebook page. No photo credit, but they took some great photos)
So this last weekend I decided to do a little road racing. I had always seen the race in Frankenmuth on Truesport and I had heard it was a cool little tourist town in Michigan, so I thought it would be fun to head up there and see what it was all about. Granted, it was a road race, which I think would be classified as "last" on my cycling strong points, but I figured I could ride in a group as well as anyone and headed up north a bit. I packed up Mr T (the RV) and grabbed a couple Men of Steel teammates; Chad, Josh, and his cousin Eli, and got the trip underway on Friday afternoon. The race started a bit too early for my style on Saturday at 8am, so we needed to get there Friday before dark to check out the road course. After we found a nice park to park the RV in that didn't look like the cops would kick us out of, we headed out on the 15 mile loop that would host the race in the morning. I thought the course suited me well, with a few short kickers and flat farmland for the remaining miles. The only problem was a punchy little hill coming into the finish area, that would later prove to set me back a few spots in the end....
(Josh J. who ended up 23rd in the 1/2/3 Men's race, Chad T 20th in the Men's Cat 3, and Eli finished his first RR: Prepare the numbers and gear in the RV before the race)
Race morning had us wake up in the Rv to a rainy, chilly morning. No big deal for me, I actually prefer this stuff when I race other girls. Plus, that meant I got to wear my super sweet Mt Borah cycling cap to block the rain. I love that hat!
After picking up our numbers and getting a quick bite to eat and a cup of Blue Lion coffee, we were off to the start line. I started off the race with a bang. The race announcer, who seemed to have it out for me, decided my number was not in the best position and he was so kind to fix it for me and let me know "if you don't really know how to place your number, just look at how everyone else does it." I smiled and made nice conversation with him, but had a nice chuckle to myself: "Thanks there buddy, I know it's my first time."
I rolled out at the front of the pack and pretty much remained patient to whole race. We were going so slow at one point as Allie Dragoo and I refused to continue to pull the pack, that I felt like we were in a funeral procession. This is the stuff that makes a mtb and cx racer like me batty. However, I held in there and didn't go too insane until the final road heading into town. The cat 3 men came around us at that point and I decided to jump to the back of their group to stir the pot and get these gals a little alive. I slowly faded back to the women's field as I intended and things got lively after that (thankfully). I got taken off guard on that finishing hill and didn't expect the lead-out attack that early, so I had to jump back on the lead group. I was able to get back up for the most part and passed several girls, but could only manage 15th on the end. Mid-pack. Oh well, this is road racing. I was happy with how I did and sometimes it all comes down to being in the right place at the right time, and I was just a couple seconds off in a really strong field of riders. Great job to all the women in this race, it was a good pack, with good attitudes the entire race!
(Frankenmuth had a sweet, safe, finishing stretch downtown)
Frankenmuth did a nice job with this event and had a free lunch for us and some coupons for free coffee in the local bakery. Bonus! This is always so nice to have little things like this and all the support of their locals was appreciated. Thanks Frankenmuth! I do have to say that it was a good thing we raced that day, as the local bakery with all the German influence had some sweet goodies. It could be a dangerous place for a hungry cyclist!
(At the front of the pack heading into town, as you can see it was a misty, rainy morning)
So this upcoming weekend is the Brown County Dino XC. I'm heading that way soon and will also celebrate my parent's 25 wedding anniversary as they will be heading down with me. I'm not so sure how my legs will feel in the hills of BC, it's been a while since I have been down there. Regardless, I'll be happy to hit the dirt again as I have not mtb'ed since the last Dino race. The foot just can't handle the mtb really well and it leads to a couple days of suffering if I try it. Which leads to a whole different blog sometime soon, as I will only have a couple more race report here until I get all healed up from surgery... but that's in the future and I don't want to think about it now. I'm just planning on enjoying the next couple weeks of cycling and racing!
So until then:
Vielen Dank for reading!
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