Lower Providence

The Lower Providence crit. Ugh - and I thought I had bad karma at Mount Joy. That's nothing compared to the debacle that has been Lower Providence for me the past couple of years.

Notoriously fast, this simple four-corner crit has never been a favorite of mine. Nonetheless, I get out there and bust my brains each year at this one. It's great training, and it gets me in the mood for the rest of the season, to be honest. Still, I never perform exactly how I would like to. Still learning, I guess. I hope that I always am still learning. Keeps you sharp and keeps things interesting!

Race: Lower Providence Crit
Distance: 20 miles, 20 laps
Category Pro1/2/3
Number in the Field: about 30 on the start line
Number of Sturdies: 2 - me and Jen Sands

Course: Four right hand turns in an industrial park. A little rise on one or two of the sides of the square and a headwind into the finish line. Essentially, it is flat and fast.

Race: With several strong squads (Zaveta, Cadence, Human Zoom, and Verducci), the race was destined to end up exactly the way it did. The Human Zoom girls really made it a race, shooting one after another off the front. With the rest of the pack rarely letting them go for long, it was only a matter of time before the inevitable happened. Laura van Gilder launched her attack. Directly on her wheel, Colleen Hayduk. Everyone else looked up and went, hmmm...that's nice. Whether their legs had turned to mush (like mine) or whether they didn't think they could go with them, everyone let them off the front. Thus, effectively ending a race for the win and turning our pack into a field racing for 3rd. I struggled, as usual, to keep my position in the field...heading up to the front only to be swallowed back up and sent to the back. Like I said, still learning and honing my crit skills.

Eventually, we made it around to the penultimate lap - as we came through, I jumped onto Lorraine Lipfert's wheel with Michelle Bote. Unfortunately, the group behind us was not willing to let us get away and we were gobbled up just after turn 1 of the final lap. Needless to say, I was tired at that point. I got pushed off my line on turn 3, which really screwed me up, and despite a valiant struggle to the finish line, I ended up WAY down in the ranks. So far down that I didn't even stick around for results! hehe! Anyway...it was a good training day. We averaged 24 mph for the race, and I learned that I still have so much to learn and so much training to do.

On a bad note - there was a SERIOUS crash in the Cat 4 race that sent one of our girls to the hospital in a helicopter Medi-Vac, two others to the hospital on their own, and one left with ice on her hand for the next 2 hours.

On a good note - our Medi-Vac-ed Sturdy (Sarah Mc) has already been released, is doing better, and will recover from semi-serious injuries that included a laceration above her left eye and a possible orbital fracture. The others also have checked in saying that though they are scratched and bruised, they are not broken.

With LP officially behind us, it's time to look toward one of the ultimate highlights of the year - TRAINING CAMP!!!! Shenandoah Valley - here we come!