Elk Grove Village NRC

I'll keep it short because it was a forgettable weekend with no heroics or results.

The Elk Grove Village race was a stage race on the National Race Calendar for women this year. (NRC = National stage races NCC= National criteriums)Being a stage race means you must complete each day within the time limit in order to continue to the next day.  There is a daily prize list as well as an overall.   The race consisted of  3 completely flat stages with lots of technical corners.  There was a time trial, a criterium, and a circuit race which was really like 3 crit courses stuck together.  I have "gotten through" stage races in the past, but to do well at a normal NRC stage race you really need to be on a pro team.  I am a regional crit rider, but given these flat technical courses,  a person like me could potentially do well.  To win overall, you have to be able to time trial and since I can't really do that either my goal for Elk Grove Village was to get through the time trial and to place well on the day in the crit and the circuit race. 

The big women's teams were all there Optum and Now Novartis who dominated, as well as Tibco, Primal Map My RIde, the Colombian National Team, Kenda & IS Corp.  I got through the time trial just fine but I wasn't feeling well. The criterium was the next day. I felt even worse and struggled to hang on from the gun.  I made the time cut but got pulled at 4 to go.  The next day I felt a little better but still not great.  I was able to ride around the circuit with the field just fine.  There were 3 separate crashes that took out multiple people, the worst one was a huge pile up on the last third of the last lap. I got around it but the remaining women on Optum and Now wanted to wait for their teammates who went down so they slowed things down.   I put in a big dig on the second to last stretch only to completely screw up the final corner.  I rolled in at 25th, just outside the money.  

It was a tough weekend for me, and not a lot of fun. 

Bike racing is hard.  

Best part of the weekend:  Eating some great Korean food and hanging out with my cousin Lynn who was there covering the race for Dobson Entertainment.

         There are lots of really great  restaurants in Elk Grove Village!