I've said it before and I'll say it again: Bike racing is hard. This year has been tough for me as I feel like I'm in decent shape but just can't seem to get it together. I haven't been able to find that momentum. After my crash the previous week, my arm and side were still pretty raw going into Glencoe. Glencoe is one of my favorite races, a huge race that is in my hometown, has promoters who have demonstrated support and interest in growing women's cycling, so sitting this one out was not an option.
When I arrived at the race, the women 3/4 were starting so I got to watch some of it. They did a couple laps when the course was neutralized due to a bad crash on the sharp downhill corner, and the rider needed an ambulance. They restarted and a couple laps later they neutralized again for another bad crash. After a long delay, they cancelled the race--the first time I've ever seen this happen.
When it was time to start our race, there were still issues, so our start was delayed for almost an hour. While we were waiting the sky looked more and more ominous and when we finally started racing, it started to rain, harder, then harder, and finally it was raining so hard, there was a small flash flood in the downhill corner and caused about a foot of standing water. The rain was coming down so hard on my uncovered (duh) raw arm, and while I didn't think I felt scared, I found myself giving up and not hanging on and was welcomed into the Spidermonkey tent full of friends. I got a finishing place of 34th out of about 60 riders. I was very disappointed. After the race I was freezing, so I put on a coat, which promptly stuck to my raw arm and had to be peeled off. I was not happy. On the other hand, my teammate Sarah did really well and got in this picture which accurately depicts the conditions:
The two riders that went down in the 3/4 race were both friends of mine. One was not seriously injured but the other friend, a PWP participant, was very seriously injured. She is healing well though has a long road ahead of her.
And to end on a positive note, here is my son Sidney cheering for some racers in an earlier race:
Pre photoshop
Post Photoshop. Braveheart!
I guess my kids have gone to a few bike races in their lives. They've got that cheering thing down.
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