Wow...that was a tough race! We had a rough day as a team, with two crashes (one pretty minor and another that left Naomi with a pretty nasty road rash), an encounter with a runaway horse and buggy (we were in Amish country after-all), and Betty the Bear! It was a tough day. High winds kept you feeling like you were either being pushed off the side of the road or someone was standing in front of you pushing you back. The hills weren't too bad, although the "hump" managed to break the pack up pretty well.
The race promoter is an unfortunate butt-head who cares very little for racing and very lot for $$$. Therefore, he basically blew the women's race off completely. We were the only category on the day that did not have a winner's purse. They were taking up a collection at the registration table so that the winner could get something. However, after paying $30 to register, I really didn't feel as if I should be responsible for the creation of a winner's purse! We were supposed to do 5 laps (23 miles). At the start, the guy didn't even want to give us directions, he simply said, "Well, you heard what I said to the guys, right?" We all yelled "NO!" and he begrudgingly gave us directions. However, the directions did not include the number of laps, even though I yelled twice, "How many laps?" So, after the third lap, I hear a bell. I ask the rider that I am working with if that was for us, and we both decided that it couldn't have been because we were doing 5 laps. Well, turns out that it was for us! As we are climbing the hill to the finish, I get passed by three riders because I think I have another lap to go. Basically, in the middle of the race, they took a lap away from us and we only did 4. This is problematic for several reasons: #1 - in order to count for upgrade points to Cat 3, the race has to be a certain length. This one was advertised as an upgrade race, but since we only did 4 laps, it isn't upgrade worthy. #2 - the butthead screwed me out of three places higher than I was!
Other than that...I felt as though I rode a good race. I was the top Sturdy finisher, and even through I was not with the front pack, I felt as if I learned a lot. Most important lesson...LOOK AT THE LAP COUNTERS!!!!!
1 comment:
It's sad- there are so many race promoters out there that still exclude women from prize money. It sounds like you had a strong race though. Take what you learned in this race and kick ass in the next one!
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