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!