FLCC> My first completed criterium

Mon Jul 10 22:29:17 EDT 2006

Amanda,

It was so good to see you! You did awesome. The women in that group had  team support and have done a lot of races together, other than that you were strong and solid!!! And Yes the carnage was a bit crazy, I think that guy broke his hip or leg not sure yet, I have never heard a guy moan like that in such pain, I was still bummed about that on my Sunday group ride. The other casualties came back to the race in slings, one fractured shoulder joint and  I believe another dislocated shoulder, several riders with signature crit road rash. (I wonder why I dont want to race in crits ;)

Glen, we said Hello to your good friend Bill Leuke, he is a rocket I tell you and a very nice guy, raced 2 races that day and was driving the train most of the time. Unfortunately, I cant root for anyone while I am officiating but I tell you its so fun to watch these races. 

On July 23rd there is a road race in MD called the Giro de Coppi, anyone interested should check it out, its a technical course according to some of the guys, but its one of the few RR's down here (there seem to be more crits and TT's). I will see you all in August for the Cayuga Lake Tri (as a volunteer) and at The Great Race, Yep my father has talked me into riding the bike leg for his team, oh boy do I need to find some hills to climb down here to prep for that !!

Cheers,

Karen

p.s. which course will you all be doing on Tuesday the 8th??

"Graceful Gardens, Mark and Amanda Shenstone" <gardens at lightlink.com> wrote:        "The miracle isn't that I finished; The miracle  is that I had the courage to start"

 That's a quote from John Bingham, a writer for  Runners World Magazine and a back of the pack runner. 
 This quote came to mind as I mulled over my weekend  experience at the Hagerstown Criterium. I am not Criterium material. No, really.  I turn corners as if I was a solo rider on a car-less boulevard. But I  had been having a lot of fun lately at the Tuesday night races and  also with my velo bella sisters at other central NY races. My parents live  in Hagerstown, MD and I was due for a visit and well I couldn't resist signing  up for the woman 3/4 race despite my lack of experience, my recent  crash, Charles's crit crash,Laura's crit crash, and complete  exhaustion from last Tuesday's race.

 I decided to check out the .8 mile course the night  before, meeting a fellow newbie from the Philly area. We checked out the all  left  hand turns & some were sharper than 90 degrees.  I felt  better about it all and by morning I convinced myself that I could do this. Once  I get going I forget my fears or so I told my self. Upon arrival the next  morning I rode my bike to a corner to watch the masters race. As soon as I  get there 2 guys were down, one who was carried off by the waiting ambulance  team. I noted a few other minor crashes. The next race was cat 5. I watched by  the first corner and all looked good when suddenly by the 2nd to last lap almost  the entire field went down...and it wasn't even a corner! They stopped the race  to clean up the carnage (one serious or at least painful injury, possibly  a broken leg) They restarted the race with the 10  or so remaining  survivors for 1 or two laps. Then it was the women's turn.

 All of the above seemed like a bad omen and on top  of that I had my nearly 80 year old mother watching her first race (and she had  just witness the decimation of the cat 5 race). I was wondering what I got  myself into. Fortunately that was balanced by the friendliness of the 30( more  or less) woman in attendance. And Karen LoParco formerly of Ithaca was there to  officiate and she put me at ease as well. The Cat 3 and 4 women were to race  together but scored separately for 45 mins plus 2 laps(?) Primes were every  other lap (?). The whistle blew and of course I couldn't get clipped in, a  typical beginners mistake. Instantly I played catch up to the first corner and  felt out of breath with the effort. After the first turn it was slight uphill.  No time to catch my breath here. On to the next corner: super sharp turn on a  downhill with a 4 million dollar stone house to greet you if you missed the  turn. I get the hang of it and everyone is holding their lines. The
 next stretch  is fast and the corner round as is the next corner and a fast final  stretch. I felt safe or at least focused but I was always just hanging on and  breathing hard. It wasn't long before some of us got separated. We did our  best  to work together and try to get back on but with main pack having  cornering finesse, prime motivation and better fitness their gap grew and by the  last quarter of the race we were swallowed up by them. Luckily we didn't get  pulled from the race and we had a free ride for a couple laps but again the  demands were too great for some of us & we were left behind. Myself and the  two women left with me made the best of it. We shared the work til the final  corner and I led out in the final stretch until almost the line where they both  came around me. 

 Although nearly last, I was totally psyched, had a  great workout, and was happy to be alive  Although I may not sign  up for another crit anytime soon, I can see how they could be addicting and it  is a temptation not to try and get better at it. But for now I'll leave the  crits for those with health insurance.
 Thanks for listening,
 Amanda

--------------------------------------------------
Amanda and Mark  Shenstone
Graceful Gardens
PO Box 100
Mecklenburg, NY  14886
607.387.6929
http://www.gracefulgardens.com

_______________________________________________
FLCC mailing list
FLCC at icycle.org
http://icycle.org/mailman/listinfo/flcc_icycle.org

---------------------------------
Want to be your own boss? Learn how on  Yahoo! Small Business. 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: /pipermail/flcc_icycle.org/attachments/20060710/5c383c8b/attachment-0001.html 