Three more races and a track class

I've been really busy this week. I raced three times; last Sunday, Monday, and yesterday (Friday), and today I helped teach a track class.

Sunday was a road race in Boston Harbor. It's a bit frustrating racing on the road after the track because sometimes the racing is limited by how wide the road is. Some of the riders blocked the whole road off to keep people from chasing. This doesn't happen on the track. Except for that, the race was fun and eventually we hit a hill and things strung out and we were able to really race again. I made a hard bridge 1/2 way through the race and then did too much work and found myself sailing off the back. Oops. It was a good workout for the legs though. I felt I needed to do some longer distance, and racing is more fun than training. I did get a medal for third in the masters.

On Monday I raced the Madison again. This time we did two scratch races and one points race, all in the Madison format. It was really fun. I love the feeling of being slung into a race and getting the rush of speed. My partner and I really gained confidence with the racing and we were able to go into the exchanges at much greater speed. The faster you go, the more speed you can transfer to your partner, and the more you can slow yourself down. As I was waiting to go into the race again, I was high on the bank and this couple had baby puppies that were only 6" long. I was trying to concentrate on the race, to drop down to my partner at the right time, but they were so cute!

Friday was our regular racing again. Some of the women were out of town to race in California so I thought the pace would be easy. No such luck! It was harder than usual! Kele was out there and very strong and HB had four riders so it was very fast. I wasn't riding that great and was just hanging on to finish. I got on the wrong wheel in the first race and was careful on the last race to not make the same mistake. I was being more careful to ride at the front and did fine at first but then the legs gave out.

I think I must have been dehydrated or just not rested. On the last race my contact lens fell out which means I'm blind except for very big objects. Luckily I wasn't near any riders and I just eased carefully into the finish line. Next time I will drink more or wear a fresh lens.

Afterwards we went out with the group and swapped racing stories. It's always fun to hear stories from other's perspectives. It also makes you realize that everybody has good and bad days.

Today I helped teach the track class. The track class is always a good time for me because the new riders are so excited about racing and have lots of questions. The class had 22 riders and at least 5 women. One of them was my teammate and I didn't even know she was going to be there! I was so happy to see her! I can't wait to see all of the new riders out racing.