Yaletown Grand Prix
Well 2 years in a row, the Yaletown Crit was a blast. This year I got to power it out with the Glotman-Simpson girls in the Cat 1/2/3 race. A bit of a rollercoaster- we were all pretty critical of our performance, but I came away from the experience having learned a lot and overall happy with my effort. Those girls are great for constructive feedback!
The field started out with about 30 riders. After a neutral lap, we were off at a good clip, keeping the pack on their toes! It took me about half the race to get comfortable taking the tight corners at such high speeds. Super scary, especially when you have a bunch of other women on bikes mere inches away! At some point, I will get more used to that. Every race I’m able to get closer and closer- I know my husband will give me heck afterward if he sees me keeping too much of a distance or pulling too much at the front ;)! At some point, teammate Stephanie motioned to make a break for it, which happened to turn into a prime lap. I HAMMERED my head off for a lap ahead of the pack. Coming around the final corner to the line, I heard someone shout into my radio earpiece “SPRINT! SPRINT!” Unfortunately, rookie shifting error and I was outsprinted by Ms. National Champion by a fraction of a wheel-length. Curses!
It took me a few laps to get my legs back after that. I was coming close to getting dropped and those oh-so-awesome negative thoughts started in my head like “I can’t do it.” Thankfully team coach Bjoern's shouts from the top of the hill helped me get my ass back up there. With a few easy laps in the pack, I was surprised to realize my legs were back in the game, along with my head! Unfortunately the last lap was a bit of a fiasco for Glotman-Simpson. None of us were positioned very well and I had a confusing moment of communication with teammate Moriah. I was almost smushed into the metal fence on the final turn (scary!), was blocked a bit in the final sprint finish and ended up getting snagged at the last minute to place 9th overall. Not awesome, but I’m happy with the effort. Stephanie and Moriah ended up with 6th and 8th as well. Still so much to learn about this sport!
Afterwards, I got some good feedback from my teammates and got to see all my buddies who were out watching the race, including my aunt and uncle visiting from Alberta. She was an instant triathlon fan after watching a 2007 race of mine in Edmonton. I’m determined to get her into a triathlon of her own at some point! Anyway, the family celebrated after on the boat with a lovely fish dinner, tasty wine and a perfect view of the fireworks.
The next day- good news from CyclingBC: I've gotten my upgrade to Cat 2!!!!! Look out Superweek!