NJ State RR Championships
Hey all,
I wanted to post a very proud victory I had this past weekend at the NJ State RR. I'm a cat 4 and this is my second year racing AND riding. I will have owned a road bike for 2 years in the end of July :) I've had an incredible season thus far with a 3rd, 2nd, 1st (in that order) and this weekend, another 1st to add to the resume.
The women's cat 4 race (38 mi) started at noon when the temp was a comfortable 90+ degrees. NOT! There were only 11 of us in the field which made the long roads with strong winds a lot of fun. The first lap wasn't too bad to handle. There were attacks going on continuously when the only hilly section of the course came up but these attacks were only half-hearted so I didn't waste my energy marking them and let the field pick up the pace as I went along for the ride. We did 2x19 mi loops. At the same spot on the second and final lap, a decisive attack went and there were 6 of us that would be the eventual breakaway with 10 miles to go. We were hauling butt to keep it away and we were the also the *top* 6 in the race so we tested each other's fitness. With about 2 miles to go, one person got dropped and two went off the front at about 5 seconds. As we approached the finish, there was a hill long enough to not be a sprinter's hill (short and steep) where it leveled out at the top with ~50 meters to the line. The straightaway leading to this hill was a continuous mental battle of "stay or go?". I put all of my eggs into the basket that the two off the front weren't going to maintain the distance. I also hoped that the strong TT'ers wheel I was on would reel us up to the two but she didn't. At the base of the hill I made my move, saw I was closing in on the two and went one more gear harder and dug deep. As I approached the finish line, I looked around and saw nobody near me. I ended up winning by about 3 bike lengths. I was so happy because this race was one of my goals, I wanted the upgrade points, and most importantly - knew I had a very well deserved win. I was very very happy with the way I raced this weekend and felt I learned a lot of judgement. Yay :)
