Waterford Hills without the thrills

Ah so I am finally coming off the peak form I had obtained, and it sucks. This weekend I did the Mike Rabe Stage race, which was a 3.4 mile prologue and a crit on Saturday and a "circuit" race on Sunday, and I rode like a woman. The best part of the weekend was hanging out with the new teammates. I have to send a huge thanks to John Rigdon for letting me stay with him Saturday night. I owe him a big one. I felt very welcomed and the guys are pretty funny chaps. Here is how the races went:

Prologue: As this did not count for too many points I went into it thinking if I could not put a good first lap in I would relax and cruise the second lap. The first lap went OK, but I just did not have it. I ended up 11th out of 13, so lets just say this cements the fact that very short explosive efforts are not my thing.

Short Course: Felt good at the start and attacked on lap 2 to try to put our name out front. Big mistake, because soon after I was fighting to stay on. I realized I have a lot more fight in me than last year. I should have dropped, but I can not find it in me to drop if I am feeling at least OK. Finished 12th out of 17. BAD DAY!!!!

Cricuit race: This one exploded from the gun. The ole clip in and attack took all of us by surprise. I got with a few guys (Danny Klein and Tim Saari) and we rode together for a bit until I accelerated on the climb and Danny got dropped. Then all of a sudden rounding a left hander I feel a zap on my hand. Stung by a bee. I rode by where the team was and still had my wits about me to ask for some toothpaste to put on it. I am very allergic and I have to thank Caswell and Rob's wife for being so quick with the help. I took my free lap and got back in with the guys I was with and then proceeded to feel good. I eventually dropped Tim Saari the same way I dropped Danny, vicious drive up the climb and I was solo. The main group caught me with 5 laps to go and I sat on until the end. Rob actually put a very impressive attack in on the last climb and almost shattered the field. I ended up 7th on the day out of 13. Needless to say not many guys raced this weekend. Overall in the stage results I got 7th out of the 13 guys who did all 3 stages, so not that bad, um yes that is bad.

So now I am resting this week and I am going to enjoy not even looking at my bike. At least 4 days in a row off and then I will build back up slowly for the remainder of the season. Again thanks to the guys for an awesome weekend, even though I did not show how I can really ride. There will be other races and I will be there in full force. Later!!! Oh yeah, I will have pics soon too from Sunday because I saw Gatto hanging out in the bushes taking a few shots. OUT!!!