WORS #3 Big Ring Classic

Wausau, WI
WORS #3 Big Ring Classic Sunday June 07, 2009
by: Regina Campbell

That was hard. I’m still happy with how I did, but that was hard, really hard. The weekend started out with my loading up the Fit on Friday night. Got to bed “early” and slept well. Waking up at 6am and did a little work in the half bath (painted trim, installed the light…and didn’t kill myself, yes!). Then I headed out the door around 9ish in the morning. The entire drive to Wausau it was gray, cold, and drizzling. Icky. Brenda met me at the race course and we rode a preride lap together. I took the singlespeed out for a spin, wanting to test my gear in case the sprinkle turned to rain and continued through the race tomorrow. I ran 34:17 and felt good with that. After the ride we headed back to my gracous host, Brenda’s, home. I’m very lucky to know someone who lives in Wausau! It rained all night long, after eating carbs, playing various board games and lego’s with Brenda’s kids we all crashed for the night.

Morning came and the rain was gone. I wish I could say it was warmer and sunny, but it was down right cold, windy and overcast. Awful actually. I was able to watch the citizen and sport start and then went to get myself ready…what the heck to wear? I dressed warm, thermal and knickers…sort of wished I had some wool socks with me, but got over it. Did a great warm up and felt good. Got to the start…ate a gel…got a call up I wasn’t expecting, and Don said go and man…did those fast women go! I struggled to keep up. I kept struggling the who race. I think I saw the back of Kim Eppen’s head for like 2.5 seconds…maybe.

I rode the first two laps pretty close with April…did a bit of back and forth, and then I realize I was out of food…and hungry. By the last lap my stomach was actually growling and I was dreaming of food…cereal, banana’s, PB&J…heck, even a gel sounded down right tasty at that point. I was edging close to a complete bonk but managed to finish the race and am really happy with my effort. I came in 13th out of 20 racers (19 finishers) and 9th out of 12 for my age group. Not a stellar performance in the numbers category, but I learned more and seeing as how this is my first year in elite, learning is what I need to do.

So…what did I learn…I need to work on my starts (doesn’t everyone when they move up a category though?), I need to learn to hammer those flats (I much prefer some twisty/technical/hilly singletrack to wide open flats…need to learn to race both!), and I need to bring more food with me. That’s what I think really did me in…I ate the only gel I brought with me, going into lap 2. I knew I was screwed when I ate it…but I was hungry. Maybe I need more breakfast too.

Thanks again to Brenda was the warm (and dry) place to stay! See everyone at Subaru Cup in 2 weeks! Now, time to go hijack pictures from other peoples flickr accounts…

~mtbVegan