2009 Blogs
After going to the whip for about 2 hours in the cross country on Saturday, Sunday brought more throttling excitement with the short track race. Short track is a 20-minute all-out effort on a short circuit. The style is similar to that of cyclocross. This being my first short track race, I really didn't know what to expect... I just figured it would be similar to cross. The course started up the same start climb as the cross country, this time of about 500m before taking a hard downhill u-turn onto a rough descent. If you carried your speed well down that, you could carry it up a little rise and onto a fast straigh-away. The course then dove back down into a fast U-turn and back up a tough pitch before turning left onto a 200m finishing flat. Each lap lasted about 1m30.
At the fire of a shot gun we were sprinting off as if the gun were aimed at us. Up the climb, banging bars, a mean scramble to make the selection. By the end of the first lap the 25-woman field was reduced to about 10. By the third lap I was sitting in 8th place on Mary M's wheel with no one behind me. Willow went to the front and drove it hard because all her teammate, Heather needed was a top-5 to ensure her win of the overall. Eventually Mary opened a gap to the 6 and I noticed the gap too late. The 6-woman speed train took off for the remainder of the race. For a while Mary and I traded pulls, hoping to claw our way back on, but with no avail.
A wicked strong climber, Mary would consistently pull away from me on the climbs which I would just about reel back in before we embarked on the 500m again. She put a few seconds into me about half way through the race which would come down then go back up for the remainder of the race. The final 10 minutes were painful because it was just me, myself, and I staring at Mary-my-carrot and not gaining any distance...just pedaling hard, breathing hard, and hurting hard.
It was a solid first short track with an 8th place, and a little reminder of the work I have ahead of me before the great season of cyclocross!
At the fire of a shot gun we were sprinting off as if the gun were aimed at us. Up the climb, banging bars, a mean scramble to make the selection. By the end of the first lap the 25-woman field was reduced to about 10. By the third lap I was sitting in 8th place on Mary M's wheel with no one behind me. Willow went to the front and drove it hard because all her teammate, Heather needed was a top-5 to ensure her win of the overall. Eventually Mary opened a gap to the 6 and I noticed the gap too late. The 6-woman speed train took off for the remainder of the race. For a while Mary and I traded pulls, hoping to claw our way back on, but with no avail.
A wicked strong climber, Mary would consistently pull away from me on the climbs which I would just about reel back in before we embarked on the 500m again. She put a few seconds into me about half way through the race which would come down then go back up for the remainder of the race. The final 10 minutes were painful because it was just me, myself, and I staring at Mary-my-carrot and not gaining any distance...just pedaling hard, breathing hard, and hurting hard.
It was a solid first short track with an 8th place, and a little reminder of the work I have ahead of me before the great season of cyclocross!