NOW Women-Tulsa Tough-day 2

Tulsa Tough: Day 2

After a late night at the McNellies Pub (scarfing down dinner and watching race footage on TV - courtesy of our awesome sponsor, Joel Kantor), we managed to drag ourselves out of bed for a 10am breakfast and spin. Saturday's forecast was for a blazing 100+ degrees, so we spent most of the afternoon lounging in our air conditioned room at the MAYO. By 5:00pm we were rolling down to the course to park ourselves at the MS booth until our 6:00pm start. With the brilliant thinking of Kurt? Emily? we filled latex gloves with ice to pack into our sports bras and bib shorts to keep us cool, considering the temperature at 6:00 was 95degreesF...what a life saver!

With spots at the front of the line, we began our race. Not but 10 minutes in, Dave Towles favorite, Coryn Rivera aka "Cocktail napkin with an outboard motor" slid out causing a crash after corner 4, taking out our very own Kendall Ryan. Luckily, I was able to grab a handful of brake and ran into the curb, staying upright. Then proceeded to the wheel pit for my free lap, chased back on, attempted to recover, and found myself behind a girl sliding out through the final corner only minutes later. With no where to go, I again grabbed a handful of brake and eventually skidded to a stop, thankfully staying upright - the 10 other girls were not so lucky. Jumping back in with my second free lap, I found myself struggling to recover and make my way to the front of the field. Last I recall, I saw 10 lap to go, told myself to hang tough...but ended up cracking off the back within minutes of the finish. Props to Kendall who got back in the race on a neutral bike after bruising her bum and breaking her Red shifter, and Julia who put out some solid effort at the front of the field!

Jenna Kowalski

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