Doylestown Circuit Race

The week since Toona has been a bit of a blur, to be honest! I went down to the beach for a few days and then came back up home to ride the Saturday ride with the Sturdy Girls. We did 45 miles on Saturday, which I thought was a mistake at first because we had the Doylestown race on Sunday. Turns out that it was really ok. My legs felt really pukey in warm-up. They weren't responding well and actually felt really achey whenever I tried to push or sprint. I was worried, but shook it off, thinking that if it wasn't my day, that was ok.

The course was GREAT! It was mostly uphill (or at least it seemed), but the hills that were notable were led into with a descent, and the rest was false flats (which I like!). We started with a climb to a right turn. After the right turn, there was a false flat uphill with a right turn. The false flat continued to the next major turn that led into a swift downhill followed by an uphill climb, a right turn, and a downhill sprint to the finish. It was an open field with some TOUGH riders - Jackie Paull, Kristy Swope, Betty Tyrell and others were on the line for the day. I felt oddly calm at the start and just kept repeating what George said...Stay AT the front, but not ON the front. At the last turn, be ON the front, not AT the front! No problem!

At the end of the first lap, Kristy did a small attack. I went with her, not wanting her to get off early in the race...the rest of the pack followed. This is how the majority of the race went. I pulled a little, Kristy pulled a lot, and others came to the front on occasion. There were minor attacks, but the field stayed together through to the end. On the final lap, I started out with a good position near the front. Betty attacked on the back half of the course, causing a major rev up and I was not ready for it. I lost my position and struggled to get back into a decent spot for what I knew was going to be a bunch sprint to the finish. As we came around the final turn, I weaseled my way toward the front, but knew that I had lost the chance for a top finish. As we neared the line, the pack spread out and a nice opening appeared in front of me. I shot forward but still couldn't make it to the front of the pack. I ended up 12th overall, but 2nd in my Category. All in all, I was pretty happy with the race, considering that the difference in time from 1st to 19th place was less than 3 seconds! I got a nifty tile for my tribulations, which now sits on the shelf next to my Brownstown trophy and my signed Health Net jersey. WHOOPIE!

It's official...I have enough points for the year to upgrade to Category 3. I'm going to wait until the end of the season before I upgrade, though. I still have so much to learn, since I've only been doing this for a few months!