This past Saturday I competed in my first ever road race with my Bad Kitty teammates, Lisa and Casey at Hotter n' Hell. This was actually the first road race for all three of us. Our fearless leader, Shawn, helped us develop a solid race plan for this day. While we all felt pretty confident in our abilities, the fear of the unknown was still there.
As we lined up I was scoping out the competition. Some of these girls looked strong, but I really didn't know what each was capable of. There were about 25 women racing the cat 4 100K with us. The race didn't start out as I had expected. It was SLOWWWW!!! We were cruising along at about 15-16 mph for the first few mile. It certainly didn't feel like a race. My team's job was not to ride up front and set the pace, so we sat in and tried to maintain our position peloton.
The pace did eventually pick up, but it wasn't too bad. When more than one girl tried to break away, we chased, and then the pace settled again! Even though we weren't riding all that hard most of the time, we couldn't let our guard down for a second. We were constantly watching the girls in front, and of course, we couldn't forget about the girls in the back of us. You never knew when someone was going to make a move. This race was probably more mentally exhausting than physically exhausting.
The only setback in the race came around mile 40 when Casey broke a couple of spokes on her front wheel. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but during a turn I felt something on the heel of my shoe and wheel. When I looked back Casey was getting off her bike. Man, I sure hated leaving her behind, but that was part of the plan. We couldn't stop for her...we just had to keep riding. The wheel truck was right behind us so she could get a new wheel and continue. Unfortunately, she never made it back to the pack. She described it as an individual 20 mile time trial. It wasn't a complete loss for Casey. She's competing in a triathlon in a few days, so it turned into a good training day. At that point it was just Lisa and me. I knew I had to keep her in a good position to sprint it in at the end of the race even if it meant burning every last one of my matches. Fortunately, I was still feeling great, and so was Lisa.
The last few miles was really where the race picked up. A few of the girls were trying to separate the pack, but we worked together and managed to stay in. Lisa began making her way away from me and got closer to the front so that she was in the best possible position for the final sprint. The girl was looking strong!! We really started pushing hard during that last couple of kilometer. During the final sprint, Lisa got far enough a head of me that I could no longer see her. I was pushing as hard as I could. It felt like my heart was going to explode. I heard another racer screaming at me to keep pushing. It turns out that it was a girl who beat me at a crit weeks earlier named Missy. I can't tell you how much I appreciated the push. Thanks Missy!!
After I crossed the finish line I found Lisa. SHE GOT THIRD PLACE!!! I was so excited!!!! We did it! Our goal was to get her on the podium and we succeeded! We executed our plan and it worked! I was more than pleased with my own results as well. I was only 6 seconds off Lisa and 8 seconds off the first place winner. It turns out that all three women who made it on the podium were first time road racers. We completed our race in just under 3 hours. The wind can be an ugly factor at this race, but this year it really wasn't an issue.
Casey came just a few minutes later with a big smile on her face. She didn't have the luxury of other rider to draft and work with during the last 20 or so miles, so she actually worked harder than any one else. I saw her heart rate files...impressive! We hung out at the finish line for a bit before pedaling 3 miles back to town to the podium. Words cannot explain how proud I was watching Lisa on the podium stage. I was proud to see my friend up there, and I was proud to see Bad Kitty Meow Phat Kat Racing representing in our first big race. The cold beer that we bought using prize money right after was truly the best tasting beer EVER.
The entire Hotter n' Hell experience was amazing. We had a great time and made a lot of new friends. For the most part, the women we raced with were encouraging and displayed great sportsmanship. I learned a quite a bit from these very strong riders. I'll spend the next few weeks working on a few things in preparation for Texas State Road Races at the end of September.
We couldn't have done what we did without so many people helping and encouraging us along the way. A big shout out goes to Shawn Jantzen for preparing us for this race. He has taught us so much about racing and is truly our biggest supporter. He made me get on my bike on days I didn't want to ride, and he pushed me to ride harder when I didn't think I could. Our kit sponsor, Jakroo, made sure we looked good in the peloton. Lots of people commented on how awesome our kits looked! It is seriously the most comfortable kit I've ever worn. Our good friends at Gnar Lube provided us with some sweet smelling chain lube. We all know that a happy chain means a happy bike. And of course, a big thanks goes out to Marinara Pizza in Plano, TX for fueling us up the weekend before our big race.
"I have always struggled to achieve excellence. One thing that cycling has taught me is that if you can achieve something without a struggle it's not going to be satisfying." ~ Greg LeMond
Me, Casey, and Lisa
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