This report originally appeared at "The Prinner Posts"
Here is a perfect example of the messed up schedule of a competitive cyclist;
- Wed-Sun race Nature Valley Grand Prix,
- Sun drive 6 hours home after an agonizing 8 laps of Stillwater crit,
- Mon get everything done you’ve put off during NVGP and pack for Nationals,
- Mon night drive to Champaign,
- Tues morning (uncomfortably early) meet Hogan Sills and Ben Damhoff/ girlfriend Molly and drive 12 hours to Augusta Georgia,
- Wed preview TT course twice and cramp up because it’s about 100 degrees with 100% humidity,
- Thurs morning race the U23 Women’s National Championship Time Trial...
The course was definitely one that needed no brakes and absolutely no technical skill whatsoever. It was 30km (~19 miles for those of you stubborn Americans) of rolling hills and the type of muggy heat that leaves no hope of ever getting dry again. I had spent 2 days searching high and low for an individual who would lend me a disk wheel with no success, and I was continually told that having a disk was vital for this particular course. With just 1.5 hours before my start time I was getting desperate asking random pro teams and people I knew if they had a disk to spare. Unfortunately, there seems to be a shortage of disks here in Georgia because no one would lend me one (or it might have to do with the fact that they didn’t want to give some random girl a disk that costs almost as much as a car). After downing three Gatorade bottles in my warm-up and sticking a pantyhose full of ice down the back of my skinsuit, I was as ready to go as I would ever be. And just as I was dismounting my trainer to roll over to the starting gate, USA National Team director Jackson Stewart appeared at our team tent touting a disk wheel that he had gotten from someone else that had gotten it from some junior. It was a moment that epitomized my usual last-minuteness. I never even got to meet this junior who lent me a ridiculously expensive bike wheel. Needless to say the shifting was not all that great and I could not reach my lowest cog in the back (which for a while made me believe, to my horror, I was riding junior gearing in the race).
I wasn’t nervous until two U23 women in front of me fell off the ramp in their starts. I couldn’t help but worry if there was something wrong with the ramp, or the holder. One chick even took out the time clock on the left hand side (quite ironic if you think about it). After seeing a bunch of chicks falling over I punched it super hard from the gun and shot off the ramp as straight and true as an arrow. The rest pretty much goes without saying. I suffered for 30 km, crossed the finish line thinking my face had caught on fire, and sat around in damp clothes until results were posted. For my first year in the U23 category, I came in a respectable 3rd place, 55 seconds off the winner, Tayler Wiles.
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