On June 26th I drove to Kansas to race
Tour of Lawrence. After little sleep the night before my drive was fueled by brownies provided by
Willem de Boer (to say thank you for me letting him use my kit at the
Hilly Billy, since he forgot his). I think my kit fit him well (see picture --->). But anyway, back on topic of Tour of Lawrence, Friday night started with the Sunflower Outdoor & Bike STREET SPRINTS. The race is decided in different heats off the 200m course, the first heat 4 start 2 move on. I won this heat by a few bike lengths. The second heat the winner sprints for places 1-5 in the final heat and the loser sprints for places 6-10 in the final heat. I won this heat by even more than the first heat. So far I was really surprised by how well I was doing because I am not a sprinter anymore. But I was reminded of that in the last heat when I had to sprint against some very fast women (including a pro), so I got 5th.
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Only picture taken of the Women's Pro/1/2/3 Circuit Race
due to rain. Photo Credit: Lanterne Rouge |
Saturday was the Meadowbrook Apartments KU Campus CIRCUIT RACE. The Women's Pro/1/2/3 race was scheduled to be 8 laps of the 2.25 mile course. At the start of the race the announcer said "in case of inclement weather we will announce a shortened or neutralized race from here" then there was a loud clap of thunder followed by all of the women letting a little air out of their tires. The course was shortened (distance and climbing) from previous years but it was still really fun...until it started pouring the winding downhill and all the turns became very sketchy and led to a lot of fish tailing and slow corners. Then there was a strike of lightening, as we finished lap 3 they rang the bell at us signalling 1 to go. At this point there were two women off the front, a group of 9 of us following, and all others dropped off the back because of the wet turns. I finished 9th overall and the 5th cat 3 (they had a bonus prize list for the cat 3's in the race).
Sunday was the Free State Brew
ery DOWNTOWN CRITERIUM. The Women's Pro/1/2/3 race started with a hero prime lap ("You've got to take your hero lap on the first lap, otherwise the announcer doesn't call you name," Christian Beattie 1973-2013) in honor of Christian Beattie who died from cancer last year. So the race started out very fast, then continued fluctuating between fast and slow because of so many attacks by many different women. All of these attacks were caught except for when Katie Kelter with GP Velotek attacked with 5 laps to go. Even with many hard attempts to bridge and the pace of the entire pack
picking up no one was able to catch her but women started dropping off the back of the pack. I finished 9th overall and 3rd cat 3 (another bonus prize list for the cat 3's in the race).
we missed you at Tomlinson, but you represented DPT well. Nice job lady!
ReplyDeleteGreat job!
ReplyDelete