Its a Love/Hate Thing and WMSR

Race season is here. The season I have been pedaling for all winter and spring. I was looking so forward to it! So why then was I a bundle of nerves with a side of nausea throughout the week before the West Michigan Stage Race? And any race for that matter? As much as I tell myself to “relax, we are just doing this for fun anyway, right?” I can't help but get the jitters before every race. It gets so bad at times that I wonder why I even put myself through this. I need to learn how to “wooshaaa” away the anxiety, as a fellow co-worker puts it. Friday night before the race a few things were weighing on my mind, so I did not sleep well. I was awake at 3:30, out of bed at 5:00 to get ready for the first race of the weekend, the time trial. My jitters were not improved by the fact that I pulled another classic Melissa blunder by forgetting my shoes at home. In Traverse City. Over 2 hours away. The cycling community in Grand Rapids is great, as some hard work went into finding shoes and pedals for me until I could go to the store once they opened and buy a new pair. After all of the effort that was put into finding me shoes I felt obligated to do the best I could. It seems the shoes were good luck, as I placed 6^th in the time trial that morning, out of about 30 women in a cat 3 and 4 combined field. Sweet!

I'm on the inside, taking a "shitty line" as Amy Jenema succinctly put it.  

The crit was scheduled for 1:30 that afternoon, and after buying some new shoes, Bridget and I went out to warm up and scout the course. We had 7 people represented from our team in this race. We tried to figure out how to best use our numbers to our advantage, and set up some strategies. As the race started the pace was fast, and it was so hot and dry out. My mouth dried up almost immediately, and the pace of the race was so intense I couldn't reach for my water bottle. I had never raced a crit before with this many women and I was overwhelmed. I was bouncing off the back of the pack, wondering how the heck I was going to be able to get up front. The course had lots of tight corners and hairpin turns, testing all of our biking skills. It was a fun course. I can say that now...now that its all over. During the race I was gripping my handlebars with all I had, praying to stay rubber side down, and in the pack. At one point I almost asked a teammate how much longer did we have to go, because I hadn't set my computer. I rather not know sometimes, and I think in this case it was better that I didn't. I heard the shout for the last lap and was so happy to know that it would be over soon. The pace picked up even more, and as we rounded one of the corners, a racer ahead me skidded her back tire out and crashed. The rider behind her crashed but I was able to get by. A few more corners to go and at the last corner I gave it all I had. Another 6^th place finish. (Bridget got 3^rd!) I almost caught the racer in front of me, but not quite. I was happy with it, the women in this field were some awesome competition. I sat back and watched the rest of the days races, happy to be done with mine, and with the results so far.

Saturday night we had a great meal with our team, and we rehashed our stories of the day. I was starving after the days events and we had some great food to eat. This is a "love" of racing. Spending time with some great people, talking about something we all love to do, and eating! We headed to bed early, and got ready for the road race the next day.

The road race was ok. I still felt nervous riding with so many people so close together. We tried attacks, they tried attacks. Nothing stuck. The leader of the overall standings, Kaitlyn Patterson, had a bad crash that further rattled my nerves. I don't think I have witnessed a crash that looked as bad as hers. I heard she is ok though, thankfully. In the end, I realized that I made a big mistake by not scouting out the end of the race. I could have taken the clues of the pace that the people were hitting around me, but in my brain it didn't sink in that this was IT. When I looked up and saw that it was, there was too much of a gap to be able to make it up in time. I came in about 18^th. Live and learn! I have to say that I do learn something at every race. My TT time kept me high up in the rankings though, and I ended up 5^th overall for the weekend. The pre-race anxiety is now forgotten, the pain of the work and the race a subtle memory. Now bring on the next race!  

Mud, Sweat, and Beers 2012

First big race of the season and my first race in Expert Class! It was a big day, and after scouting the rumored single track portions earlier in the week, I felt that I was ready as I ever was gonna be. Not a fast single track rider, I realized the race had changed a lot. If it would affect my time was debatable, as they took out two of the biggest hill sections and I don't exactly fly up those either.

We lined up and I was surrounded by a lot of blue. I think all of our Hagerty women were out today in force. Julie Whalen from Grand Rapids area was also there, one of the women that I participated in the Ray's Women's Weekend with. It was great to see her and and the other women out to race!

A few Lady Hags before the race. 

We lined up at the start, and I was behind Susan Vigland and Bridget Widrig, thinking these were perfect tires to be behind.  I was behind them for about 5 seconds! Ha. At the start I watched a lot of women pedal away, and one person next to me hit the fencing and went down. I trudged through and ran up Willpower Hill and got out to the neighborhood and tried to hammer it as hard as I could to make up some time. As I entered the trails again, I was doing ok, and hoping to see someone ahead sometime soon. I then followed behind two men who took a wrong turn. Doubling back, I jumped back on the single track as quick as I could. Amy Jenema was near me at this point, and we headed into the highwaters area of single track, where we saw Lauri Brockmiller down, and who told us we weren't too far behind and to go!

Amy and I rode together for awhile, until going up the gravel hill past the bridge her chain gave her trouble. I had just started recovering a bit from the start and started to feel stronger. I kept going and not too long after Lauri caught up to me. I was surprised to see her as she looked like she was out of the race when I saw her. Down, but definitely not out! After endo'ing her bike, and nursing some good injuries, she was hauling ass. I rode with Lauri for awhile until her chain fell off. Trying to beat the odds, I kept on going. I did ok on a lot of the single track. I am still slow, but I was able to maneuver through it without falling or having to unclip. That in itself is a big improvement for me! There were a lot of guys through the single track right on my wheel, which stresses me out, so I would move over and let them go by.

At some point I got off the single track, and was supposed to take a sharp right, but didn't see the sign and followed the same guy who led me astray the first time down the wrong way. This time it took out a LOT more time. Lauri had seen me going the wrong way and shouted my name and a warning, but I didn't catch it. After heading down a sandy hill and noticing there were no other bike tire tracks, I told the two guys who went down that way we were going the wrong way and I had to walk my bike back up the sandy two track and get back on the route.

Lauri was long gone now, I just did the best I could to hammer it out for the rest of the ride on any of the flats. I was feeling good and pretty strong. Two guys were drafting each other and I caught on their wheel for awhile. Between them having to pass people though and going pretty fast, I didn't hang on as long as I would have liked, but it was fun while it lasted.

After Timber Ridge I saw Amy Jenema again ahead of me. The last few hills coming into Mt. Holiday were killer on my legs, but I pushed through and came ripping down the hill so fast through the sand that I almost couldn't stay on the route. I went through the mud pit at the end and was happy to call it a day! I finished 10th. I feel that I had a good race, despite the few setbacks I had. Racing is a lot about luck, as this race proved for many.

Johanna Schmidt held onto her reign as champion, Susan Vigland came in second, and Julie Whalen came in third!  Special kudos goes to Michele Howard who stopped her race to help John Leach of Einstein Cycling. John had a spill and once again she stuck by the side of someone with a head injury until help arrived. Great job to everyone who raced! For full race results click here.

Kandace Chapple added 1 mile to her race after getting lost in the woods with 20 other racers;
Cassy Stone also did an endo; and I went off route two times. Still smiling at the end!

 

To the dude in the orange...thank you.

It was a mere women's Cat 4 crit during the 2011 Cherry Roubaix bike fest. I had quite a learning curve last summer trying to figure out how to race a crit. FYI for my non-cycling friends: a crit is a closed course where racers do laps for a certain amount of time, a bell usually rings for the last lap, and the first across the line wins. I started out with the naive notion that if you are in the front of the race, you are the winner. My thoughts during a race- "I am out in front! I am winning! Look how long I can be in front!  Wait, now everyone is going really fast, aaaand I am last."

It really didn't take that long to learn that lesson, but it is still a trick to learn how to stay out of the wind but close enough to catch a wheel if an attack happens. The Cherry Roubaix was my last crit of the season, and I decided after learning from my initial mistakes and then subsequently usually playing it too safe, I would try some moves out and see how they fared.

The women's cycling community is small, so when a new rider races, it is noted. This poor rider played my out in front mistake right out, and I let her stay in front of me as long she could. After a few laps she got tired, and then I decided to go for it and attack. I was out in front and freaking out a bit for a few laps, hoping to get people tired. It was a short race, maybe only 20 or 25 minutes so I knew I would only have to suffer for a short period of time.  Ellie Burke bridged up to help me, and we tried to stay away together, but my legs were not there anymore, and we got caught by the group. There were a few primes (races within a race where you can win a prize), and I sprinted and won one. The final lap came down and it was an all out sprint, very close between all the women, but I got 2nd. Definitely my best crit of the season.

Jody Hofstra was there, unbeknownst to me, taking some great pictures. I have enjoyed looking at these pictures so much, because it shows an aspect to a race that I never get to see. Sometimes I will hear people cheering me on, and that is awesome, but often I am too focused to hear anything and am oblivious to anything going on other than the race. When I asked Jody if I could get copies of these pictures recently she asked if I knew the guy in the orange, but I didn't know what she was talking about. He was originally cropped out of the picture that I had seen on facebook. Opening up the picture on my computer I discovered my biggest fan of the race. I have no idea who he is, but thank you! Seeing everyone's expressions in the crowd is awesome. I can't believe how lucky I am to be able to race and ride bikes as much as I do.  I look at that picture and can hardly believe it is me. I appreciate everyone who came out that day to watch a women's bike race...or who happened to be in the neighborhood and stopped a minute to watch.