I had wanted to head up for the MRA’s first round, but the weather was looking really horrible. \u00a0The last thing I wanted was to be sleeping in a \u00a0trailer when it was cold enough to be snowing outside. \u00a0Turns out it was the right call and it did snow up there. \u00a0Heck it snowed down in Santa Fe on Sat when I was out buying vegetable plants for my garden. \u00a0I just waited until Sunday to plant them. \u00a0I’m excited to be growing things again this year, it’s been about 3 years since I planted anything in that space. \u00a0That is another topic for another time, though.<\/p>\n
I went into work early on Friday.. ick, I hate getting up early, but I wanted to get up to HPR before it was too dark and late. \u00a0It all worked out well, I got up there just as it was getting dark. \u00a0I unloaded and set up the trailer for the wknd. \u00a0I was glad I had snagged the last carport spot. \u00a0That gave me electricity for the space heater. \u00a0I really needed it Friday night, too.<\/p>\n
It was nice to have some time to see people, it had been over two years since I went up there for a race. \u00a0Lots of new faces in among the ones I know there. \u00a0The club has taken on a more militant stand on things from what I remember it wasn’t just in the tech, but that was the most annoying and in a few ways just stupid. \u00a0It was the first time I had someone tell me I was going to have to drill 5 more things on my bike. \u00a0Pretty interesting, since I’ve been racing that bike for 4 years and they’ve tech’d this bike a few times and it was fine. \u00a0It was even this tech guy who told me I didn’t need to do the axle since it screwed into place and I had the pinch bolts wired. \u00a0Hum. \u00a0I was going to try and get back up there, but I don’t want to drill holes in my brake calipers. \u00a0So I’ll just plan on hitting another MoM round or a couple of ASMA rounds instead.<\/p>\n
I just love HPR, it is so much fun to ride. \u00a0I really wanted to see how I felt after riding it. \u00a0I started off the wknd really slow. \u00a0I did make steady progress dropping time, it helped to have Anthony go out with me in the second practice session and tow me around. \u00a0It was the first time I’ve ridden there since they put in all the nice curbing. \u00a0Visually it freaked me out for the few couple of sessions. \u00a0I never really got used to the flashing off the paint in turn 7 going up the hill.<\/p>\n
I rode the 4 hour endurance race solo, just to see what I could do. \u00a0I also figured it was a good test for my neck, which was feeling better after only a couple days. \u00a0I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t bugging me at all during practice and qualifying for the race. \u00a0I was still lowering my lap times with each session. \u00a0So I was actually getting excited to see how the 4 hr would go.<\/p>\n
I ended up grided in the 9th row, that wasn’t expected, I figured I’d be in the second wave not the first. \u00a0I had a great start and hit the first turn mid pack and stayed with the pack until the 3rd lap, I only fell back a couple spots. \u00a0I was pretty pleased with it and I managed to pick up a few spots too, which made me even happier. \u00a0I’m still working on getting over my fear of passing and being taken out again. \u00a0It was nice to have some passing practice. \u00a0I lasted just over an 1.5 hours, \u00a0I stopped not so much due to my neck, which was getting really sore, but it was my knee and right ankle. \u00a0I forget about the fact that I messed it up in that crash too, since it rarely bugs me. \u00a0I thought it was healed up completely by Jan, but found out as soon as I put on high heels that it wasn’t. \u00a0It does bug me now and then when riding on the street, I guess the constant stress on it was too much I also felt like the sole of my foot was bruised by that point too. \u00a0So rather than keep pushing I pulled in and went to the pits. \u00a0At least that way I’d be able to take a nice long\u00a0shower. \u00a0\ud83d\ude42 \u00a0It did show me that doing the work outs I got from Betty Rocker are making a difference, since it wasn’t my fitness level that made me have to stop.<\/p>\n
I will say that the MRA does know how to party, but they were much smaller then I’d see in past years. \u00a0Over all it was a great night, even if I did call it early and go to sleep. \u00a0Just to have the air mattress go flat at 2am… Not happy….<\/p>\n
I was really excited to do the LOR race, there was 14 women signed up!!! \u00a0The biggest grid since we did the Women of the West series between MRA and SMRI. \u00a0I was figuring that I should make the top 5, if I could just drop a bit more time. \u00a0I did the AmGTU race as a morning warm up just to get my self set up for the LOR race. \u00a0It was a good thing too, just like in the past I did better at the end then I did at the start. \u00a0I managed to hold my spot and not loose much ground.<\/p>\n
I got a rather poor start in the LOR. that happened last time too…. \u00a0I got stuck behind a couple of the women, I knew I was faster than. \u00a0I just had a hard time getting the super clean pass I wanted. \u00a0So after two laps, I opted for a straight up on the brakes race pass. \u00a0It worked well and was clean giving her plenty of space. \u00a0I set my sights on getting by the next one. It didn’t take me as long, now that I was getting the rhythm back. \u00a0Once I got around her I concentrated on apexes and exits.<\/p>\n
I than had to get around one more of the women I wasn’t sure where I was place wise, but I knew I’d raced her in the past and figured I’d get around her easily. \u00a0She had other ideas. \u00a0I late braked her at the end of the straight, and she managed to out drive me out of the turn. \u00a0I got her again two turns later, and managed to gap her after that.<\/p>\n
I came so close to catching up to the next two women. \u00a0I was excited when I saw Trina in front of me I knew I was gaining on her and Sam. \u00a0I guess was they were fighting for 3rd. \u00a0Then I saw the white flag, bummer, I was going to need more than one lap to catch and pass one of them. \u00a0But decided to see just how close I could get, I got within 1\/2 a second of them. \u00a0If I hadn’t hesitated for so long behind the first two I would have been able to do it. Oh well, it was too much fun and I loved every single second of that race. \u00a0It was the first time in awhile that I’d felt that much joy in racing. \u00a0Nice to know it’s in there somewhere.<\/p>\n
Now I just have to find that same feeling while racing at home.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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