I rode in/won the women’s 1/2/3 field at the CARVE Crosswind Classic road race today! Although the day started out somewhat disastrously when one of the junior racers knocked me over while I was warming up, I had a very good race.

There were only 4 of us, but two of the other 3 women were cat 2 riders, AND we were forced to race against an obnoxious, fast group of guys who would periodically yell and try to pick fights with each other during the race! The race started out painfully slow. I was bored and didn’t like being in a large mass of sketchy riders, so when I had the opportunity to follow a somewhat suicidal break with two guys about 10 miles in to the 50 mile race, I went for it. We rode really hard for about 14 miles, only to get caught within a couple of miles of the end of the first loop of the course. The move earned me a bit of respect, though, and the speed that the field generated to catch us was enough to throw two of the other three women off the back- leaving only one very strong cat 2 from the CARVE team (along with the same pissy guys) to deal with. We rode hard for most of the 2nd lap. There were a few large men’s teams who took control of the pack during the last few miles, so it was very hard to maintain a good field position for the sprint, but my effort was more than enough to beat the remaining woman (along with a nice portion of the pissy guys!)

The only criticisms I have for myself is that I should have eaten/drank more during the race. Otherwise, everything was great! Hopefully today’s race is a sign of what is to come!

Photo from the end of the first of two laps: