Niki and I headed out to Chicago early Friday morning for a weekend of racing. The plan was to race on Saturday on the same course as the national championship event on Sunday. We arrived 2 hours early for the race, which we thought was at 5:30 that evening. According to one website, the race was supposed to start at 5:30, but apparently a different website said it started at 5:15. The officials decided to actually start the race at 5:10. All the while, Niki and I expected to start our race at 5:30, so we went for a quick warm-up ride away from the course around 4:45. We thought we were fine, but when we got back to the car for the final preparations, one of our friends asked us why we weren't out there racing. Confused, we hustled to the course in our jackets still because it was dumping rain this whole time. We jumped on the course thinking it was open for the women before the start, but spectators on the sidelines were yelling at us to get off the course if we weren't racing. Still confused, we looked back from the sidewalk and saw the women's field driving hard up the course obviously racing already. I ripped my jacket off and told Niki to jump in with me. She was dead set against it, and rightfully so probably. I couldn't stand to miss the race and so I waited until the last rider passed and jumped on the course ahead of the follow vehicle.
Having never been in this situation before and clearly unfamiliar with the exact rules for missing your start, all I thought about was making sure I got in there and had a chance to race. It took me some time to move up in the field and when I finally saw the front of the race, there was a strong 4-man break off the front with most of the big teams represented. Honestly, I wasn't even thinking about being down a lap or missing the start, I just wanted to race. In retrospect, what I did was stupid, but like I always say, you live and learn. In a race that was so clearly unimportant to most of the riders, who really cares. I did not impact the race in the end and I made an honest mistake. I swallowed my pride and apologized to the officials. They seemed humored by my inexperience and naivety. And told me to be less obvious about jumping in next time! Niki and I smiled, laughed, shook our heads and moved on. No big deal. Sunday would be a new day and a more important race.
That night and at registration the next morning, we confirmed that the race started at 10:00 a.m. We found a trainer to borrow and I began warming up while Niki took care of the other details. At 9:45 I was ready to go and after the final preparations I headed over to the course for a few warm up laps. The rain had let up for a few minutes but it still didn't look like it would be a dry race. There were probably about 50 or 60 riders at the start line. I had a good idea of who to watch and with Niki and Rob on the course and on the radios, I felt confident. The course was long and it would be difficult for all the riders. Half of the course was uphill, including the finishing straight, which was only 150 meters after the 8th and final turn. Shortly after the start the prime bell started ringing. There were probably a dozen primes ranging from $50 to $100 each with one half-race prime valued at $500. The race was 31 laps long. It seemed to go on forever and I started to cramp after about 10 laps. There were very few attacks. It began raining again right around the same time I started cramping and it became very hard to see. It was really coming down hard and the race changed pace drastically as you could sense the fear in many of the other riders. There started to be crashes in what felt like every other lap. It was a battle to stay out of trouble, which meant do whatever you need to do to stay near the front.
With 3 laps to go, I was riding in the top 15 and fighting hard to stay as close to the front as I could, even if it meant sprinting on the uphill to get back out in front of the race. With one lap to go, I was sitting in about 6th wheel at the top of the climb and had to hit my breaks because a rider in front of me hit hers. Two girls moved ahead of me on the outside and I had to sprint to catch back onto the wheel ahead of me. From this 5th corner to the last, the positions didn't change. It was a chase and no one ended up getting caught. Only Tina Pic was able to move up in the last 3 corners, which is why she is wearing the National Jersey yet again. Congratulations to Tina and the Colavita women. Tina's a phenominal rider and absolutely always deserves to win. Once again, I walk away with some valuable lessons. I was not satisfied with my result, but upon reflection, there were several things I could have done differently. I am extremely motivated to do this race next year and have a much better idea of how I need to race it. The conditions certainly affected the outcome of the race, as many riders were forced out of contention by crashes and mishaps in the final laps. Thanks to Niki, Rob, and Ann for all your amazing support. Even though I had no teammates out there on the course with me, I certainly did not feel like I was alone.
Thanks for reading. -Shelley
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