Wednesday, May 08, 2013

Racing the Ridge



I was really looking forward to this cycling race.  It would mark my first ever three part stage race and I would get to race Cat 1/2 women (aka PRO/really, really good racers).  I was really interested to see how I would fare, and how many I could beat!  Barry the race director and owner of Maple Ridge’s bike shop Local Ride put on a fantastic race and had offered this newbie all kinds of help and support for the weekend which was awesome.  

Stage 1: Saturday morning 10:30am was the 70K road race – in cold, dumpy rain; I am good on cornering downhills, and bridging gaps but need some work on my hill climbing speed and pick up my ave cadence; I finished with the main pack behind 2 lead escapees 

Stage 2: Saturday evening 5:00pm was the 12.7K Time Trial – in a dry tailwind, with clip-on aerobars and Bruce Wenting’s light n’fast tubulars

Day One: 4th position, 1 minute behind the leader

Stage 3: Sunday afternoon 1:30 was the 45min + 3 laps Criterium – a sunny, beautiful race day! Took 3rd in the 15min sprint lap; then, in the 30min sprint lap I’m coming around the final tight corner to the finish in first position, clip my pedal, get tossed off the bike, scramble to pick up the bike, and ride for a 5th overall position with a broken arm (I only found out it was fractured in two places hours later at the hospital).

In sports and competition, an athlete must learn to take the downs with the ups – I have had an incredible year of racing which has been a definite high so I’m grateful and praise God for the ups and the downs.  Praise God for the broken arm?  Yes, AND at least I can train my legs hard (cycling and running) so I’m thankful :) and my cast is purple like my bike!