It was great seeing my student Schleck before the race! A picture was a must.
I knew it would be tough racing with only the 11 of us; not to mention a good half of them were from Team Exustar and all of them are much younger than me. Plus it was that time of the month for me. All and all, things didn’t look all that optimistic for me. I was not worried one bit though, which was very good.
At the line-up, I didn’t at all want to be in the front row. I was thinking that it would be a miracle just to finish all 5 laps without being overlapped and pulled.
First 2 laps, all the ladies were having a picnic. I knew the attack would happen sometime soon as we started lap 3. Sure enough it happened soon after we crossed the senor on lap 3. I could see clear as daylight as the attack started to take place. I knew I wanted to give it a shot no matter what. I followed, probably for 50 meters? I saw soon 3 of the Exustar girls left us behind. Fine! It was expected anyway. Everyone else soon bridged up with the few of us who didn’t fly with the breakaway.
The real picnic and mind game, which are the most interesting parts in races with ladies only, came right into play. No one wanted to take a pull at the front and we were only going like 24 kms/hr. I signaled a few times for someone to take over the pull and tried to go behind the pack but my efforts were of no avail. I lost my patience! Call me stupid! I know it was stupid to make my own break but I did it anyway knowing there was no way I could out-sprint many of them by staying with them. My one-man break lived for a whole lap! They watched me dig my own grave! I passed the arch alone with the rest of them behind me, right in sight. It was just a matter of time once lap 5 began.
They kindly picked me up right before the 12 o’clock position. As we approached the 6 o’clock position, the sprint took place. I tried but I didn’t have a one-kilometer sprint in me. I gave up and let them go until I saw the last girl passing me. That was it! I knew I wasn’t gonna win but I wasn’t gonna settle for the last either. I sprinted one more time to the finish line with my last little bit of pride. There! See! I might be the oldest but I sure wasn’t going to settle for the last! No offense to the girl I out-sprinted by all means, of course.
Given my effort with the average heart rate of 169 bpm and maximum heart rate of 180 bpm, I call it a “win”! I know what I do not possess and what I need to work on clearly now. I can work on them and see if I do better next time around. Wish the Spinning Girls were with me.See: http://cyclingintaiwan.blogspot.com/2009/10/2009.html It was absolutely fun doing the ITT and TTT with you guys last year!
| 選手名稱 | 號碼布 | 記錄時間 | 排名 |
| 黃合旬 | 453 | 00:28:56.650 | 1 |
| 美利達申騰隊-易芳如 | 458 | 00:29:15.840 | 2 |
| 曾筱嘉 | 454 | 00:29:17.260 | 3 |
| 李育萱 | 460 | 00:29:36.220 | 4 |
| 蕭美玉 | 451 | 00:31:55.830 | 5 |
| 美利達申騰隊-黃亭茵 | 457 | 00:31:56.160 | 6 |
| 郭允中 | 455 | 00:31:56.453 | 7 |
| 王文君 | 461 | 00:31:57.703 | 8 |
| 黎晏真 | 452 | 00:31:57.953 | 9 |
| Virginia Xing | 462 | 00:32:04.703 | 10 |
| 唐先慧 | 456 | 00:32:05.203 | 11 |
Thanks you, Schleck, for all the great pictures. A very great TTT you guys did for a great year ahead of you! JiaYou!
ITs what a friend of mine calls negative riding. No one wants to pull. It was terrible in the Tour of Friendship... always me and this other girl got caught up in front while the 'big girls' who VERBALLY said, "I am not workign one bit today" sat... the other girls husband simply said, "then just slow down until you have to get off yoru bike!"... If Excustar wanted to win, they should have had one workign in the front. They are poor team players. Its just really poor.
ReplyDeleteI completely admire you for just saying, "#@&& with you and taking off!" It took a lot of guts and you showed them, "hey, I am not here to babysit you.... I am here to race!" Even though you didn't get the result you deserved, you showed them th at you are not to be played!
Kudos to you! You were out there alone. The thing is, a few more bikermoms out there like us, we could have done something...
Thanks Tina for the encouragement. Maybe I didn't make my story clear enough but there were 4 Exustar girls, 2 Merida girls (I think), and the rest of us who didn't have a teammate there. 3 of the Exustar girls and 1 of the Merida girls were the 4 girls who made the breakaway; they were the top 4 girls of course. Only 1 Exustar girl and 1 Merida girl left with 5 of us after the break. It was transparent that they were back there to have a picnic with the rest of us knowing they could easily out-sprint us. They didn't have to work knowing taking 5th made no difference from any other placing. It was just not as much fun when we were all working separately. I could see how they didn't care at all.
ReplyDeleteTim told me I wasn't working as hard as I could be as I still had 200 meters of sprint left in me when they all sprinted. He said that I should have worked to the point where I had absolutely nothing left once they caught up to me if I really wanted to make a break. He is right! I think the whole act was silly. I still strongly believe that unless I make myself stronger, there is just nothing I can do at races.
If only I had trained harder to make myself a stronger competitor, I would have been able to:
1. make the break with the 4
2. stay and picnic with them and out sprint them in the end
3. make my break away and stay away
All and all, it's just I am not trained enough to be a tough competitor. And these days, I just ride with a comfortable heart rate for the whole training ride. I think I set myself up to take the last places in races.
But, no matter what, I am very proud of myself!
But, no matter what, I am very proud of myself!
ReplyDeleteAs you should be! Couldn't agree more! Remember, you are the only bikermom out there! (don't know about the non-excustar/Merida women) so kudos for getting out there! No matter how we race, we always have regret, should've, etc... but in the thick of it all, we are doing what we can do... I never walked away from a race actually happy with my performance... NEVER, not one single race! Even if I got #1, there was somethign I could have done better...
cycling w/out the burden of racing is actually kinda fun....
I still think you were brave!...
Thanks Tina! Yeah! I think I was very brave to get out there too. Wish I had started racing when I was in my 20s but if I had the chance to live again, I would probably choose something else over cycling in my 20s anyway. That's just life.
ReplyDeleteTrue! I don't think I had a race where I was happy with myself 100%. I guess I just need to learn to praise myself more, don't I?