2012 - First crit and fired up!

Sun 22 January 2012:

Time surely flies – can’t believe it’s almost the end of January! Caught the dreaded flu which completely wiped me out after my break and just only getting back into the swing of things.

Racing for the SKCCWomen’s Race Team on the road this season and with a full squad of 9 and a good mix of riders lined up, definitely looking forward to the team-work with the rest of the girls. Got my new team bike courtesy of Giant – certainly a great bike and the upgraded groupset from my previous one is surely a plus. The guys at BikeNow have been great at helping me get the setup right - finally got a Specialized BG fit done, and one word – amazing! With accuracy right to the millimetre, each pedal stroke has never felt that good before.  

New Giant team bike all ready to go.. 

A slightly quieter day at the SKCC crits this morning with 10 of us in A Grade. Most of the big guns were away at the TDU – though it was a good way to get back into the racing.

Race kicked off at tempo but pretty soon attacks were being launched. Despite the wind, the pace had really picked up. A few laps in before I realised I had not started my Garmin – argh, I wasn’t sure how long the racing would be now. Chased down a number of the attacks and did a fair bit of work early on. Surprisingly, legs were still feeling pretty good.

About 3/4s into the race, team-mate Jussy rode up and organised some team-work. We had 5 of us in the team racing today – certainly a great way to get some team practice in for the upcoming races. Without much pre-organization, it was a little bit of a scramble getting things lined up, though we did managed pull something together.

3 laps to go – we tried to push the pace up high with each of the girls taking turns up the front. Bell lap – not long to go. I had 2 others in between myself and my team-mates, though still in a really good position for the sprint. Into the final corner, one of the other girls on the outside swung right into my line – what the! The bike took a massive wobble, and I was less than a foot off the ground. I yanked hard and managed to keep the bike upright – just!   Heard one of my team-mates yell in support – that really fired up the adrenaline.

With that slight mishap, 2 of the other sprinters having already taken off - I had had a massive gap to close in that short distance. I revved as fast as I could – the gap was closing – it was going to be a really close one. Can’t let my team-mates down!  Gave it another kick – thrusted the bike forward – and alas, beaten to the line by a cm. Placed 2^nd today – my first one for the team. Happy with today’s effort – and definitely looking forward to more races with the team. That additional spark of adrenaline that team spirit brings surely fires you right up!  

One for the team  =D