The past two weeks have been build weeks, to prepare me for racing in the Pro-Open Category at the Bear Creek Challenge AMBC (american mountain bike classic series) Race this coming weekend in Pennsylvania. So my legs were pretty tired come Saturday morning. I got to the race and warmed up on the trainer. It was very muggy, unlike the week had been. I got to the start line and was so nervous thinking about clipping into my new Speedplay pedals (they are hard to get use to!), that I sat on the front of my seat, and the front end just tipped down. I had to yell to Ryan to go grab a multi tool. This was the the last draw with this seat post, since this has happened before and it was what happened in the crash at Killington the first day, that prevented me from being able to ride on and continue with the pack. I got it taken care of really fast, since the race was starting, and focused back into the start. The whistle blew and I got in perfectly with my pedals! Big PHEW. The first lap was very fast paced. The Sunapee team had all 4 of their top riders in the race, all of whom are strong Crit. riders. None of my team-mates were there, 2 are mending from broken collar bones! I was riding smart, at the front, but not pulling...yet. Unfortunatly, 5 laps in, we caught the Cat. 4 riders, who had started 45 seconds after our Elite P/1/2/3 field. It was on the 4 corner fast decent, so it split up our elite group, and the Sunapee riders realized this and sent one of their riders off of the front, hard. I had no idea this had happend though, until the next lap when one of the other riders on Ladies First mentioned something and attempted an attack. This was not successful though and I got on the front. For the rest of the race, the Sunapee riders just blocked the pack and marked me. I kept being the first one down the decent and would open up a gap, but I knew that without help from another rider, I was not going to be able to bridge up to the other rider. I just pulled the pack around, wanting to do something, but not quite sure what, since I still am learning all these tactics on the road. I ended up taking 2nd in ALL 4 primes. None of us even knew though that they were 2 deep, because they did not announce it. With 2 laps to go, as soon as I got off the front, 2 of the Sunapee riders launched! Ugh! I knew that was going to happen. So, since everyone else was not strong enough, or just pretending not to be, I hammered hard and pulled them in on the final lap before the decent. I was on a wheel, but my plan somewhat failed. I passed one Sunapee rider and I came around the other one too soon for the finish sprint and ended up 4th. It was super close at the line. I was pretty bummed though because I had worked so hard and made a silly mistake on the final stretch. It was my kind of long sprint too, but I positioned it all wrong. I was planning on actually taking off along the back stretch before the decent, since I was leading them out so far evey lap and have enough space to take it, but with the Sunapee riders taking the attack a lap prior, it did not work out that way. But its bike racing and that is what makes is so exciting! I got payout for 4th, a few gift cards and swag for the primes, and a 2nd place medal for my age group 23-29. After watching Ryan and the rest of the NorEast men race, we went to Exeter to get a new Thomson seat post! This one is lifetime Warranty and super stable! After a huge second lunch at a Burrito place in town, we went for a dip at Ryan's grandparents, on Hampton Beach. They fed us dinner and then we went to see Fireworks in Newbury Port. What a great day B-)
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