It’s amazing how bad you can feel one day and be strong the next. I was really nervous going into today’s stage. I had no idea how my legs would feel and I didn’t want to deal with another disappointment like yesterday. Thankfully that wasn’t an issue.
Angela’s flight arrived at 930am so I picked her up from O’hare airport and headed directly to Evanston for her race (start time 1pm). Thankfully, everything was running on time so we were in Evanston with the bike built and ready to warm up by 12:00. Perfect!
Angela’s race was 15miles and she managed to find a good spot in the pack early on. With 4 to go there was a stoppage due to a wreck (10miunte delay). Officials declared the lead racer (maintaining 15-20 second gap on field) the winner and the field would race for the remaining spots with only 2 laps remaining (they shaved 2 laps) at the re-start. Angela finished 3rd in the field sprint 4th overall! Not a bad first day…
Meanwhile, I’m watching (and yelling) her race thinking “she’s doing really well and I’d better step it up today.”
I managed a 2nd row spot at the start line (80+ racers) only to be hear that they would be drastically cutting laps from our race (NO GOOD) due to time****See notes below. I was quick to move to the front and stay out of trouble (tight figure 8, 6-turn course). Going into the 2nd & 3rd lap I knew my legs would be ok today-no repeat of yesterday. So, that was a big relief. About half way through the (40 mile) race the race was stopped due to downed riders on the course. During the stoppage, officials shaved more laps-NOT GOOD. Restart! We went from 18 to go to 14 to go after the restart. This caused a large portion of the field to LOOSE THEIR MINDS! Racers were making extremely dangerous & stupid moves on an already technically difficult course-it was really quite unnerving.
With 10 to go I moved up to the front (15 or so) only to see the lap counter go from 10 to 8 to 6 to 4 laps. That’s right; they were shaving laps in the race with fewer than 5 to go. Unacceptable!!! Racers were going crazy with attack after attack. I had a good spot going into the last turn only to get my wheel cut (moron). The finishing sprint ended in total carnage. Somebody near the front went down in the middle of the road and there were bikes and bodies everywhere. I had to weave between the bikes, bodies, and wheels all over the course just to cross the line. CRAZY finish! Glad to be upright…
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