Liberty Criterium aka GV30

No, not Liberty Classic. Not "the big Philly bike race". Close. And by close, I mean the proximity to "the real race." 

On Sunday, my teammates Nikki and Becky joined me for good old Liberty Criterium in my hometown. I train almost every Thursday at this business park and it's a simple oval. No corners (even though my friends who shall remain nameless love to talk about turns 1, 2, 3, and 4) a short hill, a little bit of an "ass dragger" hill and about 30 laps of it is what I live for week after week from March to September.

This course made me fall in love with criterium racing and was my very first race two years ago. However, it is my least favorite crit to race. Several reasons. One, my good friend almost lost his life on this course and was helicoptered out. Two, if it's not technical it's not a real crit. This is almost like the track, but without it being banked. Three, it's four lanes wide which I think is part of the reason people crash...too much room for disaster.

However, that said it is one of my favorite run races because Philadelphia Ciclismo really does a top notch job promoting it, producing it, merching it and making it fun for not just racers, but their fans who come out to watch. Love it. The swag bags and primes were awesome! (NOTE: excitement below)

So, back to the actual race.

Photo creds: Jeff "the hobbit" Toth

From the start of the whistle, there was a certain something in the air and I could tell the flow of the race was just not good. Again, I think it's because the course is SO WIDE it creates this too much of a good thing effect. The bell for the first prime was rung. I wasn't trying to win any primes, but I wanted to be in good position if something went. I saw some strong riders going for it and figured if they wanted to take off together after it, I wanted to be apart of that. Obvi.

Coming through the last corner, I'm around 5th wheel and I see Amy Cutler wind up for the sprint. I hear the up shifting, see her chain drop and watched her superman over her bike. This was quite possibly the worst thing I've ever seen during a race that I'm in. Even more so because Amy is hands down one of the nicest, humblest, encouraging racer I know. So, Amy goes down and Dana Walton is right behind her...who I'm behind. Holy hell. I swing right and Amy is skidding sideways toward my bike. OMG. OMG. OMG. I think I just shit my pants.  However, I managed to stay upright and unaffected.

Nadia Latzgo is then up the road after winning that prime and it's me and Deborah Leedale-Brown chasing her and the group behind us. Deborah wants me to pull through but honestly, I was too busy checking to see I was still alive and didn't feel like TTing after what I just witnessed. The group catches us shortly there after and we are told to move over pretty quickly by the pace car. Then we're about to go by and they've stopped our race. Three girls down and not moving. This is every racers worst nightmare.

About 30 minutes later and after 3 girls leave on stretchers to the emergency room, the race is started up again. A few of us ask to not have any more prime bells. Frankly, I'm only sprinting once and that's at the end so please for the love of god...NO MORE PRIMES!

The rest of the race was pretty uneventful. Kinda on the slow side. Can you blame us? Beside this soul crushing move Arley Kemmerer put on the uphill followed by my teammate Nikki chasing her down. They would have needed more people for that to really stick on this course. Even if Becky and I were up front blocking.

Photo: Frank Tirrell

Becky before "turn 3" on the last lap jumps and just drills it giving us all the perfect lead out. Unfortunately, I wasn't right on her wheel but managed to maneuver around some others for another yet again THIRD PLACE finish. Oh man, how I do love me some third place finishes.

Photo: Frank Tirrell

Did I Just Win A TT?

Fact: Sprinters can TT.

On Saturday morning, I trekked on up to the Lake Nockamixon Time Trial. I really don't enjoy the TT. It takes a certain sick individual to really enjoy the TT. I may be a sick individual on some other levels, but have not fully developed into this type of person yet.

That is until I just did this:

Knowing that my competition was only two other girls, I figured I could at least come in third, stand on a podium and walk away with some cash money.  The first starter in the Cat 3 Women's race was 2 seconds late and had a rolling advantage to her start. Another rider suggested I should have the officials relegate her because she was supposed to go to the back of the group then, but I figured what's the point? She's beat me at every TT this year. This race was just about me against the clock, not me being a jerk trying to win by getting someone disqualified.

The course was full of rollers and I love rollers. I used the downhills to my advantage and drilled it. I didn't have a lot of time on the TT bike going into this, but while playing around with it I did notice how important it was to stay tucked low and I tried to maintain this position.

Coming into the stretch it was an uphill, but it felt like it was a breeze. I finished in 31:18 which was pretty shocking for me. I figured I'd be like in the 32 minute range, so I was ecstatic to hear I was so close to being near 30 min range.

Oh, and I won my first race this year. Holla.

Iron Hill. Iron Will.

Photo: Mary Rapolas

Two summers ago, I watched the Iron Hill Twilight Criterium for the first time. This race made me feel an indescribable energy that just pulled you in and made you feel like you were apart of something bigger than life. Whatever it was about this race, it must have made me fall in love with criteriums because the next week I decided to start trying my local crit.

This year, Iron Hill was a race I wanted to do well at (hometown turf, lots of friends coming out to watch, etc) but came in with VERY LOW expectations. I was a minnow in this field of big fish. Women that have been doing this for years, that do this as their primary income and do this racing thing better than I could ever dream of. Just being able to line up with them is an honor, let alone trying to keep up with them. Luckily, I got a call up to the line for being a PA BAR champion and current leader (total bs compared to USA Crit Series leaders and World Champions...but hey, I'll take it!)

Photo: Mary Rapolas

I knew from watching this race from previous years that it was going to be fast from the get go...and it was. Early on, there was a crash in turn three because of a little rain that brought some oil up on the road. Luckily, I remained calm and maneuvered around the minefield of riders. I downshifted as quick as I could and began bobbing and weaving one rider at a time. It's the kind of turn you don't want to go down in and even worse, don't want to get stuck on bc it goes into a hill. Naturally, there was attacking after the crash up the hill. Awesome. Stayed with it and forged on. Then threw up a little in my mouth.

Nikki Raspa and I on the front of the field

 

The rest of the race was just a combination of staying in good position, conserving, hiding and praying...lots of praying. It was the longest 50 mins of my life. I'm not typically someone who clock watches during a race, but it felt like forever for that lap card to trickle down to single digits. I wanted out, but I knew I couldn't leave. This was the first race my family was coming out to watch and I really wanted to make them proud, especially my little sister who was the reason I started riding a bike in the first place. I couldn't quit.

A few weeks before, I asked a friend at a race "why do I want to do this race?" and she said, "because you CAN." Sounds simple right? Everyone has their own motivation or reason for showing up to the line, but this really struck a chord. I thought about how I started out in this sport because I began riding for people who CAN'T...and one of those people, my sister, was at the race cheering me on. 

I sucked up the pain. I swallowed the throw up. Yup. Swallowed it back. And dug a little deeper.

Photo: Mary Rapolas

My friends cheering me on at every corner gave me the support and strength to finish it. I cannot thank them enough for all of those cheers, let alone the long painful cold miles we shared together this winter that allowed me to participate with these women.

I knew I had to move up with the last few laps to go for good positioning. I felt good going into the last lap and knew once I could get threw turn 3 safely that turn 4 wouldn't be as bad. Unfortunately, I got caught behind Jenny Ives from Farm Team Elite and just couldnt maneuver a way around her due to super tight road ways. I stopped kicking and Mary Costelloe snuck past me and threw her bike to sneak in a spot ahead. Oh well. I ended up being 13th out of 50 starters...and pretty sure I was the 1st Cat 3 rider finisher.

Also, please note that the number 13 has a three in it.

Thank you again to all my friends, family, teammates and mentors for support, advice, cheers, high fives and love.

YAY! Beer me!