Whats better than missing school? Missing school to race your bike!
Ok, so maybe missing school isn't the best thing. You have to make up tests, learn assignments on your own, and do extra work that the teachers think you deserve because you missed a day. (Bonus- I had to get up earlier than if I was going to school on a normal day....)But I had 11 hours in the car to work on what I got (Surprisingly, not very much) so it was all worth it.
4 'o clock wake up call and a bowl of oatmeal before we hit the road to pick up one of my team mates Cameron Rex. Once we get on the highway we are really flying with the new speed limits through KS and it ends up taking 9 to 10 hours to get to Ft. Collins, CO, with stops for food and gas.
Preride time!
It was really warm and dry/dusty for the preride which made the course pretty slick. It was also really bumpy and hard to hold on to the handle bars. Lots of hills, 2 barrier runs and a flyover! Really fun course, physically demanding, and in a really neat location. A news writer parked next to us and we got interviewed for a local paper which was pretty neat. About halfway through the interview I spotted a friend and went off to preride the course with him because he had already ridden a couple of laps. He helped me spot out a couple of basic lines then I rode a lap with my dad, sister, then a hot lap by myself. I ended up getting a total of 5 laps in and pretty much had the course dialed.
For the rest of the day we went to my dad's friend's house and did homework, played with his dog, went to pickup numbers, ate at a vegetarian restaurant, worked on bikes, and finally went to bed to get plenty of sleep.
Race day number 1-
Up at 6 in the morning to race at 8:45 and a breakfast of champions for race day, Naked smoothie watered down with some added electrolights. The course was exactly the same as when I prerode it but it was really cold that morning. Even though it was dusty the tire choice was still Challenge Tire's Limus. I lined up and unfortunately had a not so good start and went from the front line to very last into the whole shot. I used the first few corners to get around everyone except the first 3 women. I continued to battle it out with 3rd place until the middle of the second lap where I cut her off on one of the up hill switch backs. She stayed pretty close to me (10 or so seconds) for almost all of the 4th lap when I crashed on a tight corner before the stair run up. She ended up right behind me and I had to go completely red line for the rest of the lap. I finished the last climb about ready to puke because I was going so hard but I had a big sprint to the finish and beat 4th place by 6 seconds in the end.
For the rest of the races after mine it was a constant and very cold down pour. I was not too happy that I didn't get to race in mud or rain. The pros were pretty cool to watch and Katrina Nash won day one for the women with Ryan Trebon finishing first in the men and J-Pow in second (Jeremy Powers). Ate some more good food then went to sleep to prepare for race day number 2.
Results for day #1.
Race day number 2-
Thankfully it was much warmer on Sunday and we had mud on our hands. Because of all the rain the previous day the ground was soft after the cat 4 men warmed it up. There were some tacky areas but it was mostly slick.
I warmed up under the KCCX/Fuji tent and got some last minute bike fix ups which resulted in a late roll up for me when my call up would have been front row. I rolled up a little under 2 minutes before the start. I had a great start unlike Saturday but got stuck behind some women and couldn't go as hard as I would have liked to.
The course was really slick around the first couple of corners and there were multiple crashes. I avoided the first one but got caught in the second one on the second corner. The girl in front of me slid out into the fencing and the back of her bike flipped out into my way. I ran right into it and then fell right onto her chain ring with my knee. Although this is partially my fault for following her too closely I was still pretty pissed about the crash. I got up as fast as I could (which was pretty slow if you were counting the actual seconds even if it felt like I was up really fast) and on my way to chasing down those who had passed me. The first girl was pretty easy. I was faster than her on the run up and the down hill so she told me to go around her and to chase down those other women.
I felt pretty strong on my climbing and I was running both sets of barriers and stairs as fast as I could but it still felt like forever to get back up to some of the other women. On my second lap there was a lot of going back and forth between the two women in front of me and myself. I would catch up to them then they would take of and try to drop/break me. The whole lap was this way and it wasn't getting us any closer to the top women. I could tell on the final climb before the lap was over that I was gaining on them on the climb so I put everything on the course just to pass them on the road section. I sprinted past one then cut the other off right before the last corner. Some one came up to me after the race and told me that the announcers had yelled out,"There goes Karen Brocket at Hyper speed trying to get around some women late in the game!" Personally I thought that this was pretty funny and wish I had heard it while I was racing but all I could think about was that it was the bell lap and I had some people to catch.
For the rest of my last lap I was completely red line making sure that the women I had just passed stayed behind me and trying to catch 4th place. I don't think there is a time in my life where I have raced harder than that except for Subaru Cup but that was a long Mountain bike race. I ended up pulling away from 6th place but I couldn't catch 4th. Maybe if I had one more lap I might have been able to but that didn't happen. I ended up in 5th place but had a lot of fun even if I did crash a couple of my brain cells out (that's probably why I love cyclocross so much....I don't have any brain cells left.... Ha ha).
Results for day #2.
I can't wait to race some more USGPs. The atmosphere is soooooo amazing ad everyone there is cheering you on. Also there were some tents out there with food. All I can say is thank you Bob's Red Mill for letting me eat lots of your oatmeal! KCCX/Fuji were also really helpful in support before and during the race.
Ok, so maybe missing school isn't the best thing. You have to make up tests, learn assignments on your own, and do extra work that the teachers think you deserve because you missed a day. (Bonus- I had to get up earlier than if I was going to school on a normal day....)But I had 11 hours in the car to work on what I got (Surprisingly, not very much) so it was all worth it.
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| My spoke pony. I love her! |
4 'o clock wake up call and a bowl of oatmeal before we hit the road to pick up one of my team mates Cameron Rex. Once we get on the highway we are really flying with the new speed limits through KS and it ends up taking 9 to 10 hours to get to Ft. Collins, CO, with stops for food and gas.
Preride time!
It was really warm and dry/dusty for the preride which made the course pretty slick. It was also really bumpy and hard to hold on to the handle bars. Lots of hills, 2 barrier runs and a flyover! Really fun course, physically demanding, and in a really neat location. A news writer parked next to us and we got interviewed for a local paper which was pretty neat. About halfway through the interview I spotted a friend and went off to preride the course with him because he had already ridden a couple of laps. He helped me spot out a couple of basic lines then I rode a lap with my dad, sister, then a hot lap by myself. I ended up getting a total of 5 laps in and pretty much had the course dialed.
For the rest of the day we went to my dad's friend's house and did homework, played with his dog, went to pickup numbers, ate at a vegetarian restaurant, worked on bikes, and finally went to bed to get plenty of sleep.
Race day number 1-
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| Me Battling it out with the girl who came in 5th place. |
For the rest of the races after mine it was a constant and very cold down pour. I was not too happy that I didn't get to race in mud or rain. The pros were pretty cool to watch and Katrina Nash won day one for the women with Ryan Trebon finishing first in the men and J-Pow in second (Jeremy Powers). Ate some more good food then went to sleep to prepare for race day number 2.
Results for day #1.
 |
| Podium shot! |
Thankfully it was much warmer on Sunday and we had mud on our hands. Because of all the rain the previous day the ground was soft after the cat 4 men warmed it up. There were some tacky areas but it was mostly slick.
I warmed up under the KCCX/Fuji tent and got some last minute bike fix ups which resulted in a late roll up for me when my call up would have been front row. I rolled up a little under 2 minutes before the start. I had a great start unlike Saturday but got stuck behind some women and couldn't go as hard as I would have liked to.
The course was really slick around the first couple of corners and there were multiple crashes. I avoided the first one but got caught in the second one on the second corner. The girl in front of me slid out into the fencing and the back of her bike flipped out into my way. I ran right into it and then fell right onto her chain ring with my knee. Although this is partially my fault for following her too closely I was still pretty pissed about the crash. I got up as fast as I could (which was pretty slow if you were counting the actual seconds even if it felt like I was up really fast) and on my way to chasing down those who had passed me. The first girl was pretty easy. I was faster than her on the run up and the down hill so she told me to go around her and to chase down those other women.
I felt pretty strong on my climbing and I was running both sets of barriers and stairs as fast as I could but it still felt like forever to get back up to some of the other women. On my second lap there was a lot of going back and forth between the two women in front of me and myself. I would catch up to them then they would take of and try to drop/break me. The whole lap was this way and it wasn't getting us any closer to the top women. I could tell on the final climb before the lap was over that I was gaining on them on the climb so I put everything on the course just to pass them on the road section. I sprinted past one then cut the other off right before the last corner. Some one came up to me after the race and told me that the announcers had yelled out,"There goes Karen Brocket at Hyper speed trying to get around some women late in the game!" Personally I thought that this was pretty funny and wish I had heard it while I was racing but all I could think about was that it was the bell lap and I had some people to catch.
For the rest of my last lap I was completely red line making sure that the women I had just passed stayed behind me and trying to catch 4th place. I don't think there is a time in my life where I have raced harder than that except for Subaru Cup but that was a long Mountain bike race. I ended up pulling away from 6th place but I couldn't catch 4th. Maybe if I had one more lap I might have been able to but that didn't happen. I ended up in 5th place but had a lot of fun even if I did crash a couple of my brain cells out (that's probably why I love cyclocross so much....I don't have any brain cells left.... Ha ha).
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| Fly over |
I can't wait to race some more USGPs. The atmosphere is soooooo amazing ad everyone there is cheering you on. Also there were some tents out there with food. All I can say is thank you Bob's Red Mill for letting me eat lots of your oatmeal! KCCX/Fuji were also really helpful in support before and during the race.
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