Riding with The Klugs: Planet Bike Day 1 and 2- Elite Women's Race

photo by Amy

Elite Women's Field Start line above.

So Sat and Sun I was all signed up for the Elite women's race. I registered early and watched the confirmed rider's list get bigger and bigger with names I couldn't believe were going to come. Wow, I mean, I will be in a race(not racing against) Katie Compton, Allison Sydor, Alison Dunlap, Kelli Emmett, Sue Butler, Katrina Nash, Amy Dymbroski, and Devon. Crap, how cool yet scary. My goal was to not get lapped and race against the women that I knew were in my league.

Photo by Renee

Above Renee captures how freaked out I was at the start of Saturday's race, waiting for the gun to go! I had a good start until I rammed into Kristin's cassette. The person in front of Kristin didn't have a good start and caused a bit of a back up for like a split second. Off we went. Boy was it fast but I felt like I was right in there. Made a few mistakes, not being aggressive in blocking turns and not trusting my tires in certain areas where I needed to let it rip. I came in 19th but was pleased with my racing.

Day 2 came and again I was nervous and worried how my legs would react. Usually I do better on the second day of racing but this is the first double of the season so I wasn't too confident. The course changed a bit and had this fun 180 degree downhill to steep climb. The picture below shows a nice perspective of it.(Yeah, not digging the butt shot).

photo by Renee

photo by Mike

I got a great start and stayed more aggressive. I kept on letting this girl in on the corners and then figured that was her tactic to scare me. When we came to the blacktop climb by the playground I decided to show her I could play those games too and gave her a bump as I went by. I was then able to gap her and another group on the steep climb. I rolled in 17th and again didn't get lapped by the leaders. It was a good race and my body responded well. Renee and John put on an amazing USGP race! They had 2 great courses and everything seemed to run effortlessly. We had a blast cheering for everyone and it was awesome to hear everyone cheering for us.