Women Superweek update

Hey guys!

Sorry for the break in updates yesterday, it was a busy day for us having criteriums in two separate cities for the boys and girls and traveling.

Yesterday's crit was definitely a brutal one. The course was 1.1 mi for the women with a 100ish degree turn right after the start finish line up a power climb. After the first climb there was a sharp right hand turn, some false flat, a second power climb, sweeping descent into the third and final power climb, then descent toward the finish line. It was definitely a fast course. Average speed for 90 min was about 23.5mph.

Our plan from the get go had been to be active during the race since it did not seem like the bigger teams were taking up that responsibility. Julia was the first to go after turn one of lap one. Brutal. That got the speed going and PC kept it going with a solid attack right after. I could tell right then it would take everything I had simply to finish the race that day. Jen went hard on one lap too and I was feeling pretty worthless sitting in the back not able to do anything. I went with one attack up the third climb about halfway through the race then looked left to see Julia going with it. Happily, I slowed down a smidge and tried to block at the front. It did not really work and I found myself suffering to get back in as the pack rolled by me.

It became pretty clear that a break was not going to stick even though there were a few strong girls that clearly wanted it to. I simply sat in and tried to hang on for dear life. I dont think my legs have ever hurt so badly. Julia came up to me with about 8 laps to go as I was getting gapped off the back and gave me some words of encouragement. At the time, however, I simply wanted to punch her-yeah, thats how badly it hurt.

I found myself making little goals for myself from this point on. "Ok, just make it to that grassy knoll, ok just to that rock, ok two more trees, and repeat." It was one of the most challenging things for me to make it through that race. I could not see straight and have never been that drained after a race. I tried to rely on instinct once my mind and body shut down and found myself on the last lap moving up the right with another girl. Somehow I barely sprinted (not really because I was too afraid to fit through the narrow gap as tired and cross eyed as I was) and I think made it into top twenty.

All of us were hurting but I am very impressed to say how active we were during that really brutal race. For a small team we definitely made our prescence known.

Today was a rest day for the girls. Slept in, got some food, easy spin, and a movie. Hopefully the legs will come back around tomorrow!

Thank you for reading and I hope you all have a great night!
Lauren