Who dunnit?? I'm still trying to figure it out!
Two weekends ago was the infamous Walburg/Pace Bend weekend here in Austin. All my teammates were in town for the race. Walburg was full of epic adventures as usual- this time with a mild drizzle, cold weather, and giant piles of mud in the road. We rode great as a team. I had attacked and gotten off the front for 12 minutes towards the end of the 1st lap and when a group of eight caught me, my teammate Jen and Colavita's Carmen attacked and stayed away. Lauren and I got to chill in the pack and just cover whatever happened. I attacked with 1k or so to go which made the others have to pull me back just before the sprint. Lauren was able to win the field sprint so the team went 1st, 3rd, and 9th I think. Good day, good teamwork.
Pace Bend was probably my most epic race ever. I got up the road early for a very brief break with Carmen, which was immediately countered. None of the teammates were around for some reason so I had to cover that too which was exhausting. Maybe a lap or two later I flatted and had to wait for the wheel truck and chase back on. Luckily, no one did anything while I was gone. RIght when I was close to catching back on, the Masters started to pass me, so I stayed as far out of the way as possible on the opposite side of the road and then way off the back. I caught back on my field a lap after I flatted. Maybe another lap or two later, there was the race winning break which I bridged up to with Jen McRae. Phew I was pretty worked by that point. We must have been hauling because we gained a bunch of time on the field. I ended up 5th. Afterwards, I found out I had been DQed! It was so confusing- I had no idea why. It turns out some motorcycle official said I was rotating and drafting off the men and using them to catch up with the women. How absurd. Anyone that knows me knows that that is not how I roll. It was really upsetting after all that work finding out it was all for nothing. If they had told me when I was catching up to the field that they were DQing me, I still would have been livid but less so than after the race after my teammates didn't chase me down in the break because we all had no idea I was DQed. Lesson learned- don't flat!
This past week was pretty brutal. There were a bunch of school and group project deadlines, Lunafest is rapidly approaching, and I had 3 interviews! Everything was completed in the end but, boy, it was tough sometimes. Friday night was the big Gary Fisher night. He is sponsoring the UT team with discounted Gary Fisher Cronus's and he came into town to meet us and Hotel San Jose. I guess he has reflectors on all his clothing so whenever you'd try to take a picture, it would end up with stripes! He was definitely a cool guy and the team is fortunate to have such a great opportunity.
Gary Fisher himself with his reflector-covered tweed suitThis weekend I did Lago Vista, although reluctantly. Jen was off at Texas Tech for the collegiate race and Lauren was in Dallas taking a weekend off. Rachel, Louise and I went to Lago. The racing was super negative which makes it very frustrating. I should have just thought of it as solely training instead of thinking about results at all. Saturday I rode back from Lago with Shontelle and Carmen which definitely helped me be less frustrated- I was good and tired when I got home. I had been so frustrated from the day before that I wanted to race with the men but it was full. It was probably a good thing because their field was torn to shreds.
Sunday, Olivia, Danielle, and I went out to Cippolina's on West Lynn for a pre-birthday dinner. It was quite fantastic going out with those two girls and the food was pretty good too. Somehow dinner turned into an almost four hour ordeal! I'm sure we'll be repeating the ordeal soon enough! The birthday was good- I had a great time with friends in the evening! The rest of the day was work work work.
Lunafest is coming up on Sunday- I'm looking forward to it but also will be quite relieved when it is over! I won't get to attend because I have second round interviews that day! I'm definitely bummed I don't get to go to Lunafest but I do need to get a job...
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