Saturday, March 7, 2009

First Race: Success! Sort Of

Today was the first race of the season, Mason Lake 1.  My legs felt a little funky because I did too much Trigger Point yesterday, but once I got moving I felt ok.

It was SO nice to have teammates to go to the race with!  That really helped ease my nerves.  The skies opened up, and it was a nice sunny day aside from the wind.  

It felt really nice to get back into racing.  I felt pretty comfortable in the pack, and I did a pretty good job of staying towards the front.  They combined the 1/2 women with the masters men, which changed the dynamic quite a bit.  We couldn't do a lot of work in the beginning because the men would just chase us down.  A mens breakaway got some distance, though, and on the last lap, the other guys sat up and let us do our own race.

Beth was in a breakaway, and as they were getting caught, I attacked.  I feel bad because I attacked a little too early and it looked like I was chasing her down.  That was NOT the intention!  Then there were 3 of us, 3 wines chicks and 2 others.  We did a rotating paceline for awhile.  It looked like everyone was pretty tired, so I attacked with maybe 5 miles to go.  

1 wines rider came with me, and we worked together very well to get a good gap.  It sounded like she was breathing pretty hard, and I knew she is a good sprinter, so I tried to attack her with 1k to go.  That didn't work, and my legs were fried for the sprint, so I got 2nd. 

We still have some team tactics kinks to work out, but it's just the first race.  I also need to keep practicing my sprinting, but it will come.  

But boy oh boy was it FUN!  It's great to be back in the mix.

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