Pretty much the story goes… 9Seventy Racing helps volunteer at event, so since I had to be there anyway for a few hours… why not also “race” my bike a few hours?!
- I haven’t ridden more than 20 miles on my road bike since July
- I had ridden my road bike exactly two times outdoors since October
- Training… what the heck is “training?”
I’m actually quite a fan of the little Cobb Lake circuit course they put together, so I figured why not… if anything it would be a hard training ride, and since it’s an open category race for the women, it’s not like I ever have a chance at good results when roadie pros are coming out to it. I did my first outdoor road ride of 2018 a handful of days before the race, and the bike seemed ok.
Just like in 2014, I stayed with the main pack until the first trip down the dirt segment, and then bye bye bye majority of the field. ‘Tis cool… they probably train. LOL! I ended up working with three other girls for the next four laps. There was a stiff wind from the south, so it was great to have bodies to hide behind. It was tough… I found the dirt segment to take the most from me, as it was stupidly rough and it was hard finding that perfect gear to ride in. Going up the climb to start the 5th lap I lost contact with two of the stronger chicks I was working with, so I got to do the lonely TT of soft pedaling shame for the last lap. It wasn’t bad, almost felt like recovery, woo hoo!
I would finish 24th, in something like 2 hours 12 minutes. I do believe that is faster than my 2014 time, so victory for me!
Hey, I showed up, I pinned on the number, and I gave it what I had to give. I really can’t complain! 🙂
I don’t have a lot to say… honestly. Weird for my race reports, but road races tend to have less of the weirdness and thoughts that mountain bike racing has. Most of the race I was just focused on my very sore sitz bones that haven’t been on a road bike for hours in a long time, and the weird clicking from my bottom bracket.
And… thanks to Tailwind Rebuild, I didn’t have soreness the next day and actually CRUSHED my trainer recovery ride! Nothing like crushing 30 minutes at 115 watts 😉
Heidi Rides Bikes 