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Contact Us: info@emraceteam.com
Copyright 2008, Elves & More Elite Race Team
USA CYCLING MASTERS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Samantha House
Louisville, KY hosted the National Championships this year so I decided I might as well give them a shot again this year. I signed up for the Time Trial, Road Race, and the Criterium so this would be a little stage race for me. I was very pleased this year with the time trial course which had only one, yes that's right, one turn around!! I had my work cut out for me with the former National Time Trial Champion starting 30 seconds behind me. Well, needless to say, that is one fast chick and she took the overall again this year. I had a decent run and felt fairly good throughout the race regardless of the pretty windy sections of the rolling course. I posted a respectable time and managed a 4th overall getting one of the coveted podium spots. More importantly, I gave it what I had today and I feel comfortable that there will be more improvements in my times once I get used to my new set up. By the way, thanks to Jim and Andys (COBC Raisin Rack) for setting us up with the use of their canopy during warm up.
The 9 lap road race was the following day on July 1st. This was a neat race course as it had some nice technical sections, some screaming short down hills and a few mild but occasionally obnoxious climbs. Something for everyone. I was again hoping for the best, but my legs felt a little heavy from the time trial so I wasn't sure what to expect. It took one lap for the eventual winner to attack which created a 5 person break that she then whittled down to 3 and then none. That left me riding solo for the next 6 laps in the 5 spot chasing the 4 spot rider. On lap 7, I finally caught the 4 spot and we agreed to work together to stay away from the field. We worked well back and forth but then it was the final finishing lap and I didn't have a plan... Hmmm.. What do I do to try to get 4th... Well, for some strange reason, I thought I could sprint up the entire climb right before the finish and then just keep on going. Um, okay, I said, I thought I could... Apparently, my legs disagreed. I got almost to the top of the climb and realized I left my legs somewhere back on the climb. 5th place, last step on the podium.
The crit was at Churchill Downs in their infield. I was now sitting 2nd overall in the Omnium so I thought maybe I had a shot at keeping this spot if I could snag a podium spot and It was a small field so I thought that improved the odds of heck maybe even a win. Our race was 50 laps in the drizzle of the remnants of a rainy morning on July 4th. Leslie Jennings of Team NatureLife attacked several times on the short course as well as Staci Joy, an unattached rider from WVA. I wish I could say I had some crazy or brave strategy, but on the fly I decided I would wait for my moment in the sprint by keeping myself in a good position and then just see how it goes from there. Okay 48.5 laps down... And what was going on?? Was that my rear wheel slipping out in the corner? I picked up speed out of the corner and my bike was bouncing and shimmying noticeably... 49 down. Okay, here we go. I started to go around the first corner with some speed and "whoa!" there goes my bike again. This felt familiar... YEP, A FLAT TIRE ON THE LAST LAP!!! They were getting away from me and I have a DARN FLAT! I had to just watch it all play out.... Jane Evely took her 2nd consecutive National Title and the 2 and 3 spot riders got into a tangle just after the line. It appeared to be bad, but it was later reported that both riders were fine. So maybe I was lucky to get that flat after all, anyway it was just cool to be there at Churchill Downs.
Louisville, KY hosted the National Championships this year so I decided I might as well give them a shot again this year. I signed up for the Time Trial, Road Race, and the Criterium so this would be a little stage race for me. I was very pleased this year with the time trial course which had only one, yes that's right, one turn around!! I had my work cut out for me with the former National Time Trial Champion starting 30 seconds behind me. Well, needless to say, that is one fast chick and she took the overall again this year. I had a decent run and felt fairly good throughout the race regardless of the pretty windy sections of the rolling course. I posted a respectable time and managed a 4th overall getting one of the coveted podium spots. More importantly, I gave it what I had today and I feel comfortable that there will be more improvements in my times once I get used to my new set up. By the way, thanks to Jim and Andys (COBC Raisin Rack) for setting us up with the use of their canopy during warm up.
The 9 lap road race was the following day on July 1st. This was a neat race course as it had some nice technical sections, some screaming short down hills and a few mild but occasionally obnoxious climbs. Something for everyone. I was again hoping for the best, but my legs felt a little heavy from the time trial so I wasn't sure what to expect. It took one lap for the eventual winner to attack which created a 5 person break that she then whittled down to 3 and then none. That left me riding solo for the next 6 laps in the 5 spot chasing the 4 spot rider. On lap 7, I finally caught the 4 spot and we agreed to work together to stay away from the field. We worked well back and forth but then it was the final finishing lap and I didn't have a plan... Hmmm.. What do I do to try to get 4th... Well, for some strange reason, I thought I could sprint up the entire climb right before the finish and then just keep on going. Um, okay, I said, I thought I could... Apparently, my legs disagreed. I got almost to the top of the climb and realized I left my legs somewhere back on the climb. 5th place, last step on the podium.
The crit was at Churchill Downs in their infield. I was now sitting 2nd overall in the Omnium so I thought maybe I had a shot at keeping this spot if I could snag a podium spot and It was a small field so I thought that improved the odds of heck maybe even a win. Our race was 50 laps in the drizzle of the remnants of a rainy morning on July 4th. Leslie Jennings of Team NatureLife attacked several times on the short course as well as Staci Joy, an unattached rider from WVA. I wish I could say I had some crazy or brave strategy, but on the fly I decided I would wait for my moment in the sprint by keeping myself in a good position and then just see how it goes from there. Okay 48.5 laps down... And what was going on?? Was that my rear wheel slipping out in the corner? I picked up speed out of the corner and my bike was bouncing and shimmying noticeably... 49 down. Okay, here we go. I started to go around the first corner with some speed and "whoa!" there goes my bike again. This felt familiar... YEP, A FLAT TIRE ON THE LAST LAP!!! They were getting away from me and I have a DARN FLAT! I had to just watch it all play out.... Jane Evely took her 2nd consecutive National Title and the 2 and 3 spot riders got into a tangle just after the line. It appeared to be bad, but it was later reported that both riders were fine. So maybe I was lucky to get that flat after all, anyway it was just cool to be there at Churchill Downs.
