MO PRO Recap

After returning home from Speedweek, I spent a few days in SLC before packing up my Veloforma again for the Missouri Professional Cycling Series this past weekend.  Three days of racing in some of St. Louis' very cool neighborhoods, including a night crit in the Loop, Tour de Grove on Saturday, and the Dutchtown crit on Sunday afternoon.  I spent Friday in airports and arrived in St. Louis to a wonderful Billie who picked me up from the airport.  Billie and Leif are an awesome couple I met last year, and I was excited to be able to see them again.  Luckily, I had enough time to build up my bike (with some help from the puppies) and head to the race.

Chase and foster pup Primrose aka Little Girl (Final member of this dog trio, Farley, is curiously absent from this photo...) 

Unfortunately, I was pressed enough for time before the start that I was a bit out of sorts.  Pinning four numbers to my jersey (not an easy task on small jerseys) and sorting out bike issues left me frazzled and not in the best state of mind before a night crit!  I focused on chilling out before we staged and as we began the race, I was in a much better frame of mind.  I aimed to stay either on the front or very close to front at the start of the race given how dark the backside of the course was.  I went for the early prime, but Samantha Schneider from Tibco came around me at the line which she repeated some 50 minutes later to to the rest of the field to win the race.  After this early prime effort, I eased up and found myself at the back to recover for a lap or two.  Wrong move.  The back of the course was very dark and as the field funneled into a tight corner with a large mound in the apex of the turn, things got a little crazy.  I realized too late that I had not given myself enough reaction time.  The speed changed drastically in front of me when riders braked to avoid a collision, and I had no where to go but into the wheel I was following.  I hit the pavement pretty hard in an awkward manner which left me joking about it to the officials in the pit.  Thanks to the extra padding in the rear, I didn't suffer any road rash.  Score.  Unfortunately, my bike hit the pavement just as hard as I did and was not able to re-enter the race.  The derailleur was bent and during the attempt to fix it, my derailleur hanger snapped in half.  And that's how Day 1 of racing ended.  All hopped on adrenaline and no bike.  I was pretty bummed.

SRAM and Big Shark Bikes' mechanic Steven kept my bike after the race in order to fashion a replacement hanger that would get me through the weekend.  At 2:00 AM on Saturday, I got a text from Steven to let me know my bike was ready to go.  Talk about going the extra mile- thank you!  (SRAM's mechanics Jose and Steven went out of their way on numerous occasions to help me out last year. As a solo rider, I can't tell you how much their kindness, generosity, and expertise means.  These guys are awesome and I can't thank them enough.)  With a working bike, I was able to line up for Saturday's Tour de Grove, a USA Crit and National Crit Calendar event.  With about $7,000 on the line for the Pro Women, this was a pretty big race.  My legs were feeling good despite being sore from Friday's spill and I raced well for the majority of the race...right up until the last turn on the last lap.  I completely lost my nerve as the pace increased and the field swarmed around me heading into the 180 degree sweeping corner to the finish.  Instead of holding my position and being confident, I freaked out and the entire field went by.  I rolled in about 33rd and I was very disappointed with myself.

With great company and some delicious BBQ Saturday evening to recover, a stop at Jilly's Cupcake Bar to fuel up before Sunday's race, and some time to re-focus, I was ready to go and in the right mindset for our final race.

So many choices...

Billie knew just what I needed to turn my racing around...

Vanilla Corn Cupcake and Maple Butter cream Frosting with Fried Chicken & Waffle.  Drizzled with  some Maple Syrup.  Yes, this was my pre-race meal.  

The Dutchtown course is a fun one through residential and business areas and along a park, with an uphill drag to the finish.

Getting ready for surgery and unable to ride, Leif couldn't race this weekend.  Instead, he drove the lead moto in our race!

I was determined to end the weekend on a good note.  I moved around quite a bit in the field, working on keeping the confidence up, and went for a prime and won.  With about 4 laps to go, Vanderkitten racer Jenn Reither attacked. No one chased as previous attacks with multiple riders had proved unsuccessful.  I think most of us thought the field would catch her.  Heading into the last lap, Carrie Cash Wootten from Pedal the Cause attacked and I followed, but the field was clearly on top of that and Jenn was still up the road.  She stayed away for the win and the rest of us followed shortly after, gearing up for the sprint for 2nd place.  I found myself too far back on the downhill heading into the second to last corner, so put in the effort and moved up to the front on the inside as we came through the corner and stayed on Mellow Mushroom's Laura Van Gilder's wheel into the start/finish straight.  Didn't loose my nerve and was in good position for the sprint- progress!  Finished 4th in the sprint, so 5th for the day which I was pleased with.  After the race, a little boy from the neighborhood asked me how I did.  When I told him, he responded, "Wow, that's impressive for a girl like you!"  I was a bit unsure what the "girl like you" part was about, but I soon found out when he asked, "Is you a teenager, or a grown-up?"  I laughed and told him I was a grown-up, but conceded that many times I get confused for a teenager. His next response left Billie and I laughing hysterically as he explained (and acted out) that I looked like one of those grown-ups who looks really young, doesn't grow much, and races horses really fast.  Kids are a hoot.

Enjoyed the rest of the day with Billie, Leif, and the dogs.  Billie, who owns First Impressions Skin Care in St. Louis, gave me a little make-up lesson and we enjoyed some more delicious cupcakes as we wrapped up the weekend.  Leif was super kind to drop me off at the airport at a ridiculous hour Monday morning, and I spent the rest of the day going from airport, to airport, to airport, to airport, and then finally arrived in SLC.  Went straight to work and was welcomed back by very excited, not to mentioned well behaved, kids.  After a long travel day, I was very thankful for this.