My teammates for the weekend- Ruth on the left, Coryn on the right. Add their ages together and it equals mine. Nice! Too many jokes for that one.
Last night was the first night of Tulsa Tough. I love this race and this is my third time here in Tulsa for racing.
For the first major portion of the race I was totally chill and sitting in to not waste energy. Actually spent the first 10 or so minutes just moving up because I had such a crap starting position.
There are a handful of the major teams represented with 4-6 people so we didn't take it upon ourselves to do any major work in the beginning but we just wanted to be aware when any moves with major players went up the road. Nothing stayed away long enough to be dangerous.
Later in the race our game plan was this- I was to be the girl to chase or watch for threatening attacks. We had our hit list of riders that were a threat off the front. If it came together, I would provide a lead out but if not, then Coryn was on her own for the sprint. Ruth was to just sit on Coryn's wheel... learning to fight for position and learn from Coryn on where to be in the final sprint.
As it turned out, Kori Seehafer attacked hard with 15 to go. She was one we wanted to be aware of. I hesitated and then bridged to her. We got reeled in with 10 to go. I sat 2nd wheel for the next handful of laps covering 4 moves in a row. Seriously. TIBCO (and a couple other random girls) was just sending girls off the front one after another trying to get something to stick. With 6 to go, I was still sitting 2nd wheel and had the chance to sprint for $200... bingo! Got it. At this point, I fell back into the middle of the pack to recover. Yikes! A little late in the race for that :) With 4 to go, TIBCO sent Amanda Miller off the front and she got a big gap. With 2 to go, I jumped and tried to bridge it. The bridge didn't work but I ended up at the front of the pack pulling it around. At this point, that was ok because I knew Coryn would be sitting in a good position for the sprint if I could close the gap to Amanda. For 1.5 laps, I sat in the front and towed everyone around. With .5 lap, we were within 20 meters off Amanda and I blew up. I thought (wrongly) that this was good and the sprinters were close enough by now. I floated back and back and back... I was blown. Coryn finished 5th and Ruth came in 8th.
Later in the race our game plan was this- I was to be the girl to chase or watch for threatening attacks. We had our hit list of riders that were a threat off the front. If it came together, I would provide a lead out but if not, then Coryn was on her own for the sprint. Ruth was to just sit on Coryn's wheel... learning to fight for position and learn from Coryn on where to be in the final sprint.
As it turned out, Kori Seehafer attacked hard with 15 to go. She was one we wanted to be aware of. I hesitated and then bridged to her. We got reeled in with 10 to go. I sat 2nd wheel for the next handful of laps covering 4 moves in a row. Seriously. TIBCO (and a couple other random girls) was just sending girls off the front one after another trying to get something to stick. With 6 to go, I was still sitting 2nd wheel and had the chance to sprint for $200... bingo! Got it. At this point, I fell back into the middle of the pack to recover. Yikes! A little late in the race for that :) With 4 to go, TIBCO sent Amanda Miller off the front and she got a big gap. With 2 to go, I jumped and tried to bridge it. The bridge didn't work but I ended up at the front of the pack pulling it around. At this point, that was ok because I knew Coryn would be sitting in a good position for the sprint if I could close the gap to Amanda. For 1.5 laps, I sat in the front and towed everyone around. With .5 lap, we were within 20 meters off Amanda and I blew up. I thought (wrongly) that this was good and the sprinters were close enough by now. I floated back and back and back... I was blown. Coryn finished 5th and Ruth came in 8th.
Really, we needed one more person on our squad to help out at the end with reeling in Amanda or covering other things so I was more fresh in the last 2 laps. Or, what would have been really nice if some of the other teams with multiple people (won't name names but come on!) would have worked at the end too in order to set up their sprinters!
I feel good about the effort and know I did my job. One day, I will have the opportunity to sit in and sprint because I am confident that it could be good. But, I love having a job and working for a purpose. I think most racers do better with a job and purpose. Even if you are racing alone, think about giving yourself a purpose. It makes racing way more exciting!
That is it for now! Another race tonight.
Cari
1 comment:
Nicely done! Thanks for the report, Megan
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