AuntieK
08-11-2007, 09:19 PM
Really, I don't know why I'm posting this. It's not all good news.
Today I raced the Utah Championship Road Race: Wolf Creek Pass. The race started at an elevation of 7080 feet, and went up to 9485 feet. It was brutal. Even worse because I've been nursing along a hip/lower back issue for the last couple of weeks. It pretty much crippled me today.
I should have known not to come to this race when I saw the list of the others who had signed up: all ranked much higher then myself. But, I guess I'm a glutton for punishment. :rolleyes:
Here we are leaving the start line. I'm the one at the back.
3974
I managed to hang on to the pack for about a third of the way up the climb before dropping off the back because my left leg had gone numb. I did manage to catch another Cat 4 woman about 3 miles to the summit (also, I passed a Cat 5 man who had started 10 min before our group!). At the summit we made a u-turn and headed back down. Shortly into the descent a lead vehicle passed by and shouted something at me. I figured he was warning me about another group coming through. I looked back and sure enough there was a group of men coming, so I moved over to the right so they could pass. A group of four men passed me, and I noticed that their numbers indicated that they were from the Pro/1/2 group. I didn't really think much about it at the time. But, a mile or so later it occurs to me that it was Dave Zabriskie, Burke Swindlehurst (Toyota United), Jeff Louder (Healthnet), and someone else. Dang! What I would have given to have grabbed Z's wheel!
I was really looking forward to getting to the finish line and meeting Dave. But he took off before I made it to the finish. :(
So even though I didn't race as well as I wanted to, I still had fun. I'm considering it a "good training ride".
The climb to the finish:
3973
Today I raced the Utah Championship Road Race: Wolf Creek Pass. The race started at an elevation of 7080 feet, and went up to 9485 feet. It was brutal. Even worse because I've been nursing along a hip/lower back issue for the last couple of weeks. It pretty much crippled me today.
I should have known not to come to this race when I saw the list of the others who had signed up: all ranked much higher then myself. But, I guess I'm a glutton for punishment. :rolleyes:
Here we are leaving the start line. I'm the one at the back.
3974
I managed to hang on to the pack for about a third of the way up the climb before dropping off the back because my left leg had gone numb. I did manage to catch another Cat 4 woman about 3 miles to the summit (also, I passed a Cat 5 man who had started 10 min before our group!). At the summit we made a u-turn and headed back down. Shortly into the descent a lead vehicle passed by and shouted something at me. I figured he was warning me about another group coming through. I looked back and sure enough there was a group of men coming, so I moved over to the right so they could pass. A group of four men passed me, and I noticed that their numbers indicated that they were from the Pro/1/2 group. I didn't really think much about it at the time. But, a mile or so later it occurs to me that it was Dave Zabriskie, Burke Swindlehurst (Toyota United), Jeff Louder (Healthnet), and someone else. Dang! What I would have given to have grabbed Z's wheel!
I was really looking forward to getting to the finish line and meeting Dave. But he took off before I made it to the finish. :(
So even though I didn't race as well as I wanted to, I still had fun. I'm considering it a "good training ride".
The climb to the finish:
3973