Before anyone gets to wondering about my counting skills, I did skip O Cup 3 at Hardwood. Things were a bit busy, Hardwood is not my favorite course (especially on a rigid bike), and I thought I'd take the weekend to run a few errands and ride for fun. In fact, one of my fun rides was at Albion, where I pre-rode the course there, eliminating the need to pre-ride the day before race day.
As a result of my race-skipping and advance-planning, Saturday was pretty sweet! Very relaxing, for sure. I had a quick ride, then brunch with a friend, some time around the house, dropped in on Brad and Rachael to meet Winston, and then got my race stuff together. Whew! Ok, maybe not that relaxing, but it sure felt like it since I didn't have to rush out to Albion to check out the course!
Since I was flying solo for this one, the first order of business was to find a feed - no problem with the large and friendly crew from CSAJ. I got warmed up, got my bottles organized, and got to the line. I had an ok start, and quickly got on the pain train, led by Jenn and Ali. Jenn pulled away, eventually winning it wire to wire, and I managed to keep Ali in my sights for most of the first lap. I knew Danielle wasn't too far behind, and we nearly came through the lap together. On lap two, I was already starting to suffer on the climbs, and about midway through the lap, I lost my focus and things came apart for a bit. Danielle passed me with some encouraging words, and I decided I needed to stick with her as best I could. She got a decent gap, and I never closed it, but I was able to pull myself back together to keep up the chase and maintain my position. You really need to keep pushing in this category because we're all pretty close in ability and fitness - positions 3 to 7 each finished 30s apart! I was right in the middle of the category in 4th, and just felt happy to have rallied for my last lap.
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