This weekend, Team BH was excited to get together again (at least with all state-side members in attendance. We miss you Devon!) in Iowa for a fun weekend of racing.
The weather looked quite dreary and with a tough road race ahead we were a bit nervous about the severe thunderstorms and 30mph winds that were predicted. But SO very lucky for us, that never materialized! While the skies were grey and the wind was present, we were only lightly sprinkled on and the winds were about half what we expected.
At the line, pinned and pumped, we sized up the competition. It was alot of strong regional riders though the only teams with more then a rider or two were Kenda, ISCorp, and ourselves. From the gun Kenda proved to be wildly aggressive throwing out attack after well-planned attack in quick succession. Being outnumbered 2:1 we valiantly went with or chased down everything we weren't in. A couple strong riders chipped in, but we found ourselves having to cover most moves. Not wanting to be on the defensive only, we all took turns throwing some hard attacks of our own. By lap number 3 of 4, we (along with Kenda) just wanted a break to stick but it just wasn't meant to be. But not from lack of trying all the way until 4miles to go...
A short neutralization (as the Pro Men passed us for their finish) was personally frustrating to me as I had just attacked up the hill and hoped the pace would stay high and commence the start of the "race to the finish" strategies. Re-organizing quickly, Kristen and I moved to the front to try to keep things going; Kenda continued to be aggressive but we held our ground. The last hill and the finish loomed and we set our faces and got up to go and found not a match left in the box.
After all our hard work, we didn't get the finishing results we wanted. But at the same time we were quite pleased. As a brand-new team with only 3 team races under our belt, we have shown we can race well together and quite aggressively. We have learned lessons and learned each others strengths and styles of racing. And we are hungry to turn these into the finishes we know we are capable of!
After all our hard work, we didn't get the finishing results we wanted. But at the same time we were quite pleased. As a brand-new team with only 3 team races under our belt, we have shown we can race well together and quite aggressively. We have learned lessons and learned each others strengths and styles of racing. And we are hungry to turn these into the finishes we know we are capable of!
Thanks SO much to Robin (as well as her husband Kyle and their awesome pup, Mattie) of Mercy Specialized who put us up for the weekend, recommended delicious eats (like Atlas!) and also presented great competition in the races!
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