Some highlights as USA Crits Speedweek continues:
- Friday... birthday time. I woke up to nice birthday wishes and a neat gift from Rocky, Joan and Kiley! There's only one place to use this cash-money...looking forward to more travel adventures in the future!
- Whitney and I enjoyed another beautiful spin and got bikes ready before heading off to Spartanburg, SC. Sad to say bye to Joan, Rocky and Kiley...we had so much fun!
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| Gnar |
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| Candid shot of Rocky, Me and Kiley |
- Even though we had a 3-4 hour drive ahead of us...and we may have been running on the later side...we made a rushed decision to steer the Outback van in the opposite direction of Spartanburg for SPEED strawberry picking. SOOOOOOO worth it.
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| Gnar again. |
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Best birthday activity in Kat's book
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- Since we were back on schedule to Spartanburg, we figured we had time to let the birthday shenanigans continue as we veered off course again. Where to you ask? Cupcakes!!! How well does Whitney know me? This well... "Kat, you get out now and go in and start looking at the cupcakes. I'll park the van." However MANY minutes later, I had only narrowed my choice down to 3 cupcake flavors and a 4th that was risky but I was still considering for the heck of it. Groan, I can't decide! To which Whitney responds, "We are getting a half dozen." Brilliant, Boss. We're out of there in less than an hour which is nothing short of miraculous.
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| Columbia, SC |
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| Yummmmm |
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| Pre-race cake. |
- We arrived in Spartanburg with plenty of time to spare and were able to connect with former Mayor Barnet and Valerie. I actually started riding in Spartanburg, SC during an internship with Mayor Barnet and the SEAD program. I enjoyed my time there and it's neat to be able to return and visit every year. They are such wonderful people and it was great to chat with them before the race.
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Whitney's pre-race routine...looking a bit crazy
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- Whitney and I were both feeling good for the race, and narrowly avoided many crashes and close calls. Whitney won a prime, or maybe two. I was gearing up for the finish. Some major improvements for me in terms of positioning and moving around in those last several laps. Unfortunately heading into the last lap, another crash right in front of me left me having to close a huge gap that took almost half the lap to do. I managed to get back on and pulled off an 11th in the field sprint. Whitney finished the day just outside the top 20 but with some good aggressive racing as usual.
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| Spartanburg Spring Fling festivities at the race |
- We stayed at the race for a bit with Spartanburg hosts and fellow cyclists Elizabeth and Steve in their team tent. Eventually, we made our way back to their sweet abode for some good conversation, more cupcakes, ice cream, strawberries, showers, and cat shenanigans. Seriously, he put himself in there...
- Another year and Speedweek race in the legs and enjoying every minute of it!
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