So this blog post has been very slow to come out of my head…sorry for the delay. Been dealing with stupid mental stuff. Did I mention I don’t like losing? The past couple of weeks have been a long overdue lesson.

Albany Criterium – one word: OUCH. Very fast, very fun…but exposed one of my weaknesses: Bike handling. We were cornering at 25-30 mph. I would hit my brakes because I was nervous and scared. So when I would hit the brakes, I would lose 10-20 places … I would have to work really hard to get back into the pack. This is a bad combo - in my oxygen deprived, scared shitless state I decided it would be a good idea to shift down to the small ring in front. This was a really bad idea. I lost a ton of speed, and by the time I shifted back up to the big ring, I was dropped. Then I could not chase back on. I ended up trying for about 10 laps before I got pulled from the race by the marshals. In a criterium event like this one, if you fall off the main pack and are about to be lapped, then you will be pulled from the race. It sucked. After the race, another teammate and I decided to ride the 30 miles back to Salem. It was a nice way to burn off some of the mental issues that come from losing a race that badly.

Silverton Road Race – one word: OUCH. Very fast, very fun…but exposed another weakness: Climbing. I didn’t have great expectations for this race. Turns out I was right not to. This one hurt a lot. My legs are really sore today. I got dropped towards the end of the first lap. I spent most of the day chasing other people who got dropped. It was kinda fun to pick them off one by one. I ended up finishing 31st in a field that started out around 50.  This was a very tough course. I am really glad I raced it. Next year, I will finish with the front group.