Getting your ducks lined up in a row

Although when looking at the overall results would reveal a big fat DNF from last nights fast and furious Tour of Gastown, I honestly think I took a huge stride toward getting better. I truly believe you can learn faster through failure and making mistakes because they are so much easier to recognize and hopefully correct. (Especially when they're obvious!)

So without further audieu - here's what I believe went wrong and how I can fix it next year. Yes, next year. There's nothing like a personal challenge to get me fired up and ready to train harder and come back to better my previous attempt.

#1 - Downplaying the excitement and intensity of a NRC crit. Sure I've done a small handful of them in the past - but it's been over a year since I've jumped in with the big girls and I automatically assumed I'd be able to hang with them without any problem. Hmmmm... well when you clip in, hit it full gas to the first corner, slam on your brakes, avoiding everyone who's a moron and doesn't know how to handle their bikes, sprint out of the corner and don't move up immediately? You get stuck there and eventually you get popped due to the surges and how much harder it is to race in the back. Even I know and preach how much easier it is in the front of a race - and yet, I had to relearn this lesson last night. (That's probably the MOST frustrating lesson of it all - mainly because I keep relearning it.)

#2 - Ok so I don't really have a no. 2 because I pretty much summed it up in #1. But I must applaud my efforts for attempting Gastown - I hung till the half way mark. I saw some friends (fraz and carla) who I haven't seen for a while and got to meet Matt Shriver from LYP. And some ladies were shelled after the first lap. FIRST LAP!

And like I said - it makes me HUNGRY for another attempt. Hopefully something will pan out this year. I'm already starting to think about next season and shifting my focus a little less on track and A LOT more on road. And now I have a new tool in my toolbox to pull out when it's 38 degrees and raining. :)

Gina Grain did a fantastic job last night and definitely demonstrated she's ready for the Olympics. She's going to rock it in Beijing!

In other news - the men's race was impressive. Svein Tuft and Andrew Pinfold (sp?) are both headed to Beijing and had a full squad of Symmetrics backing them up. Chris Horner was in the mix, Andy Jacques-Main (sp?) and several other top notch racers shed the field from the original 150 starters down to 30. Dave Richter was doing well - hanging in great position going into 5 laps to go - when an idiot in front of him, hit the barrier, endoed, and Dave ran right into him, flipping onto the barrier with his face. He didn't get up right away - I panicked, ran over to him, although couldn't get to him because of the barriers. Luckily there was a hay bail near by for him to climb over and we immediately walked him to the medics on hand. Thank goodness we were there to help him - he smacked his head really hard and was really out of it. His cheek had a serious cut on it requiring stiches. Poor guy! Aaron Levin, his teammate on BRI unforutnately had a little run in with another hay bail in the beginning of the race and scraped up his arm pretty badly. Heal up quicly guys!

Svein Tuft was off the front for about 6 laps leading into the final sprint - at which point he was caught and then his teammate Pinfold secured the win. I missed the finish - but saw them celebrating on the back straight as they rolled back through.

Now we're off to Portland for the AVC and some killer competition. First up - the pursuit. And now I have something to prove. :)