Get ready to get dirty!

(or, how to ride cyclocross on 23c tires, courtesy of Women's B).

Araba and I rolled up to the the start/finish of what promised to be a rowdy road race (ooh, alliteration!). This was going to be Araba's first race and a quarter of the course wasn't even paved! I remember this being my first race last season and hating the mile of muck, so I was nervous enough for both of us rolling up to the line.

The conditions of the muddy patch weren't too bad since we were the first race of the day but the pot-holes certainly were punishing on the rear end! Araba sure was spunky but lost the pack while navigating the golf-ball sized gravel on the road. Down to about half the field, we took a moderately paced first lap to scope out the course. I came around to take a pull at the start/finish and headed into the mud-pit at full speed. Kept thinking 'pedal pedal pedal pedal pedal!' on the unpaved mile--looked back when we rounded the corner back onto the road and was surprised to find that there were only 6 other girls behind me! We rotated through the paceline and increased our break, taking turns pulling into the wind. I was a bit nervous heading into the pack sprint--I don't really have the guns to be a sprinter! I moved up towards the front of the group and jumped when I saw one of the strongest girls punch the sprint. I caught her wheel and hung on tight until we were nearly on the line and came around pedaling hard. I won the sprint by a nose. And then Araba and I got to scrape a pound of mud off our bikes--she finished slightly behind the pack and in good spirits (considering the morning's adventures).

Day two dawned gray and cold (this we know because we were on our trainers as the sun peeked over the horizon, getting ready for an 8am start...the poor boys had already warmed up and gotten to the line for a 7:30am race--ouch!). Both Araba and I were still feeling a bit crunchy from the hard race on Saturday--I keep trying to remember that everybody is hurting on day two! The crit course was around a 1.9 mile loop with two early climbs and then a long and blustery descent through the exposed back side of the course, ending with a slightly downhill straight shot to the start/finish (with a tailwind it promised to be a speedy sprint to the line!). Araba seemed much happier about having pavement under her wheels for the whole race and I was looking forward to testing my legs on the hills. Well, I couldn't contain my exuberance (or maybe it was the chilly conditions--gotta get warmed up!) and crushed it up the two climbs. This effort separated the field down to 5 and I was happy to sit in and keep my nose out of the wind for the tough descent on the way down. Then we became 4 when a rider crossed wheels and went down--really unlucky, but definitely something to remember when following a wheel (overlap means bad news if the rider in front of you slows or moves over). And then we were 3 when we shed another rider on the climbs--me, a strong Purdue and Marian rider cycled through a quick series of 30 second pulls, setting a crushing pace and opening up a big gap on the field--yay for finding some other riders to work with!

When we got to the last lap I wasn't sure whether I should kill myself up the hills to try to ride away in front of the break or settle in and save my legs for the sprint. I decided on a compromise, following Purdue up the first climb and then pulling around her to punch it hard up the second climb to the top. Looking back I saw Marian a short distance behind me and Purdue flagging on the hill. I thought that some help in the wind on the way down would be great, so I sat up and pulled in behind the Marian girl. Working together with short and quick pulls, we soon opened up a good lead on the third rider. My heart sank when I realized that I was in front as we rounded the turn to the start finish, and in a smart move the Marian rider was perched on my wheel, waiting to come around. I slowed up, anticipating her sprint but she backed off and came around fast...and I was overgeared to match her acceleration. A good learning experience--next time downshift and don't slow as much so that I've got some jump to match her speed.

Araba came across the line and promptly sat up (no hands!) like a pro, finishing a bit behind the main chase pack. She said that she learned a lot from working with another rider throughout the race, finishing strong and a novice no longer!

As always, thanks to my teammates who made this a highly enjoyable weekend! I will let them narrate the story of their glories, but suffice it to say (as a teaser) that they had quite excellent performances in both the road race and the crit. Yay!