The Dirt Field

The Race: Speed Week Athens Terrapin Twilight Criterium
The Course: 40 laps of crowd-lined insanity
The Field: Pro 1/2/3 women
The Finish: 11th

Athens is an amazing, ‘have to see it to believe it’ experience. Instead of a bike race with a handful of people watching who are either waiting to race or recovering from their race, Athens Twilight has actual fans who are not wearing spandex (or really, in the case of many of the college girls, much at all). There is nothing more exciting than flying through a corner completely lined with screaming spectators.

I was anxious before this race (as opposed to all of those other ones where I am a model of calm, aside from the tears and the panic) for two reasons: (1) would my ability to hold position and ride confidently have improved since my last national-level crit last year, and (2) how would I fare in the final sprint against some of the strongest sprinters in the country?

After a solid, very hot warm up, my race started comfortably. I wasn’t as close to the front as I should have been on a number of the laps, but felt really good and was having fun. The few times I went to the front to pull, it was because I wanted a chance to go hard and play a little. Crazy, right? Having a great time during a race? It’s like giggling your way through paying taxes.

The other part that was flying high was my confidence. Gone was the rider who last year rode next to the peloton to avoid the other riders. I railed the corners, chose places to go in the field and actually went there, and flew along at top speed so close to the barriers that I could have plucked the arm hair of an unsuspecting spectator.

It was not all sunshine and lollipops, though. There were times were I slipped too far back in the field. By the last lap, I was sitting about 10 wheels back, which was farther than I should have been. This became more apparent when two riders in front of me went down hard. I braked hard and swerved frantically, squeaking by on the outside and sprinting back up to speed. It was too late – the front of the field was gone and I was left to race to the finish alone for 11th place.

So that was disappointing. On one hand, that’s bike racing. Crashes happen and I was lucky to stay upright and still get a decent result. On the other, CRAP. It was bad luck to be behind a crash and not great to have been five+ wheels farther back than I should have been. I learned some lessons from the experience, which is the point of being here anyway. Tomorrow is another day to race (and so is 5/1, 5/2, 5/4, etc).

On the way back to my car, I had two different requests for photos from random spectators (one of which involved puppies). While I felt like I needed to explain, “Uh, I’m not famous and these photos will probably only impress my mom,” I had the good sense to enjoy the moment and smile for the cameras.