Second Race

Ok, so tonight was my second race at Portland International Raceway. Unfortunately, I've had stomach flu or something for about 5 days, so I'm not getting much in the way of calories or nutrition. I can keep Goo in me, so I brought two of those. I had one about a half hour before the race and one right before.

This is a novice women's race and as I said, generally pretty friendly. There were 14 of us. It started out better than my first race in that I was able to get more in the middle of the pack immediately instead of being near the last at the back. But some of the women were ticked off and took off right from the get-go.

I tried to keep up with them for a bit, but realized I couldn't really do that and still finish, so I dropped back a bit. But, very soon the bunch I was with were just too slow. So I tried to bridge. I heard a couple of "go get them" and I huffed out "I'm trying, I'm trying" lol.

One girl had fallen off the back of the break away and I spent like two laps trying to catch her. I got out of the saddle and finally caught her.

It was so cool because I'd tried drafting enough times now that I knew the concept. So I told her I wanted to work with her because I hoped the breakaway would slow and we would catch them. It was so great because I knew enough to coach her a little so we could start working together. That was my first time really working with someone. She's great at pulling a big gear and I tend to spin a little more (she probably rides 70rpm and I tend to ride 90-100 unless I'm tired and then I drop back to the 80's). And she was bigger than me (I'm kind of small, especially on the bike since I have a short torso). So I couldn't pull her as well as would have been ideal. But it was so cool! We did get within about a quarter lap of the back of the breakaway (we had gotten about a half lap behind).

And this was her first race and she really loved it. We were both really glad to have someone to ride with and not be all alone.

So, I placed 7 of 14 again, dead middle just like last time. But this time the pace was almost 1mph faster and I tried to sprint at the end. And I learned a WHOLE lot. Oh, and it was cooler weather...I hope next week is cooler again since I do so much better. So, I was all feeling gross and still did better than my first race!! Yay!! (FYI, race is 1.9 miles per lap, 6 laps).