Oh happy wet, cold, slippery, yucky day...the National Criterium Championship was held in Downers Grove this morning, a mere 25min drive (traffic free, on the way there anyway....) from the city. I'm going to probably leave lots of details out of this report basically because it will end up being long enough without going into the minutia of the day. I felt AMAZING today and was thinking a top 10 finish was definitely something within my reach, if I stayed out of trouble and played my cards right. Warm up was excellent, my brain was connected and I was ready to rock. I knew I had good legs after winning the state points race championship at the track (and also qualified for elite track nationals in the process) on Thursday so this was going to be a good day for me.
Kenda had a great squad with Gina V., Kristin W., Tamyra B., Marni H., and myself representing. Paul and Mike were on hand to see that we were wired and had everything we needed before and after the race - thanks guys!! Imelda was circulating too, keeping things together for us. There had been steady, heavy rain in the area for the last 2 days so I was not surprised when the rain started again right after we got underway. The streets became more and more slippery as things progressed.
Racing got off to a decent start, since I got a spot on the line in the second row - close to the front. I'd have to say there were about 70 in the field but I'm not 100% certain on that. The pace was pretty high with lots of primes being called early on. I stayed near the front and out of trouble (so I thought) until about 7 laps into the 31 lap race. Someone went down in turn 7 and took a few of us with so a trip to the wheel pit and a free lap later I was back in and feeling good. After the halfway point the gnarly crashes started - it was sort of unnerving to see bodies flying over the bars out of the corner of my eye almost every lap.
The size of the field was dramatically shrinking as more and more wrecks happened and riders abandoned. I was very lucky and stayed safe until 2 to go when someone took a bad line through the last corner and overcooked the exit of the turn - taking A LOT of riders out with her, including me. I flew over the bars and onto someone else's bike and my foot was stuck in someone's wheel. When I finally managed to get free of the spokes I realized that the spectators in the corner had taken my bike away and over the crowd control fence so that I couldn't get back on to chase. Now THAT PISSED ME OFF. I had come this far and wanted so badly to at least finish, even if it was dead last. I worked way too hard to be a DNF. My day was over and I was not remotely amused. I understand that the people in the crowd were just trying to help clear things but no one even bothered to ask if I was going to continue.
Later on Carrie Cash from XPLANE-Revolution came over to apologize for causing the crash that ended the race for many of us. I respect her a great deal for that and appreciate that she made the effort to express her apology. She's an excellent athlete and just happened to make a bad move at the wrong time. It doesn't fix the fact that I'm sore and disappointed but it definitely reinforces the fact that she and so many of the other girls that I race with are really gracious, honest and tremendously good people. I guess that's why I can't be terribly angry and why I can look forward to the fact that there is another race next weekend.
Many thanks to my family (Mom, Dad, Aunt and Uncle) who came out to watch. Thanks to Luke Seemann from XXX and chicagobikeracing.com for the lovely shot of me biting it. To Steve, Bill, Donna, CJ and Mary for cheering for Kenda - even though they were soaking wet we could all hear them and appreciate the support. Can't wait to see the pictures!!
Kenda had a great squad with Gina V., Kristin W., Tamyra B., Marni H., and myself representing. Paul and Mike were on hand to see that we were wired and had everything we needed before and after the race - thanks guys!! Imelda was circulating too, keeping things together for us. There had been steady, heavy rain in the area for the last 2 days so I was not surprised when the rain started again right after we got underway. The streets became more and more slippery as things progressed.
Racing got off to a decent start, since I got a spot on the line in the second row - close to the front. I'd have to say there were about 70 in the field but I'm not 100% certain on that. The pace was pretty high with lots of primes being called early on. I stayed near the front and out of trouble (so I thought) until about 7 laps into the 31 lap race. Someone went down in turn 7 and took a few of us with so a trip to the wheel pit and a free lap later I was back in and feeling good. After the halfway point the gnarly crashes started - it was sort of unnerving to see bodies flying over the bars out of the corner of my eye almost every lap.
The size of the field was dramatically shrinking as more and more wrecks happened and riders abandoned. I was very lucky and stayed safe until 2 to go when someone took a bad line through the last corner and overcooked the exit of the turn - taking A LOT of riders out with her, including me. I flew over the bars and onto someone else's bike and my foot was stuck in someone's wheel. When I finally managed to get free of the spokes I realized that the spectators in the corner had taken my bike away and over the crowd control fence so that I couldn't get back on to chase. Now THAT PISSED ME OFF. I had come this far and wanted so badly to at least finish, even if it was dead last. I worked way too hard to be a DNF. My day was over and I was not remotely amused. I understand that the people in the crowd were just trying to help clear things but no one even bothered to ask if I was going to continue.
Later on Carrie Cash from XPLANE-Revolution came over to apologize for causing the crash that ended the race for many of us. I respect her a great deal for that and appreciate that she made the effort to express her apology. She's an excellent athlete and just happened to make a bad move at the wrong time. It doesn't fix the fact that I'm sore and disappointed but it definitely reinforces the fact that she and so many of the other girls that I race with are really gracious, honest and tremendously good people. I guess that's why I can't be terribly angry and why I can look forward to the fact that there is another race next weekend.
Many thanks to my family (Mom, Dad, Aunt and Uncle) who came out to watch. Thanks to Luke Seemann from XXX and chicagobikeracing.com for the lovely shot of me biting it. To Steve, Bill, Donna, CJ and Mary for cheering for Kenda - even though they were soaking wet we could all hear them and appreciate the support. Can't wait to see the pictures!!
