6 May 2008 | Race Reports
World Cup #3- Madrid
After a disappointing race in Offenburg, I had a whole week to get all motivated and psyched up for the race in Madrid. The course was fast and hard (not technical, but still hard because it was so fast and bike handling was definitely important, and physically hard with lots of steep climbing).
The day before the race I did a few laps and some hard openers and didn’t feel great, but I wasn’t too worried- I’ve had plenty of races where I felt bad the day before and then great in the race.
Race day I was feeling good and had a solid warm-up (rode half the course and then got on the trainer to do some efforts). I still had a front row starting spot despite my finish in Offenburg, and I knew the start was going to be crucial (as always in a World Cup).
I got a good start and was sitting in about 7th position for the first half lap. On one really steep climb I was able to pass about 3 women by jumping off and running. At that point I was in 4th, riding with Gunn-Rita, Marie-Helene, and Marga. We had a little bit of a gap, but not much, so when they started slowing down and looking at each other I decided it was better to pull for a little bit than slow down and let the chasers catch on. I pulled for about half a lap and then the other 3 came around me (in retrospect I think I should have just sat in, but hey you got to give it a try). I was gapped a little on a short descent and couldn’t catch back on. I was riding alone in 4th when Ying caught me although I was able to stay with her for a little bit and I could tell she was suffering. Then she gapped me and Katerina and Sabine caught me. I was determined to not have a repeat of Offenburg, where I kept getting passed and never managed to pass anyone, so I stayed with them and we caught back up to Ying. Sabine was able to get around and I couldn’t go with her. So then I was riding alone in 6th (Katerina dropped her chain and had to stop and put it back on) but the gap to Ying was staying the same so I put in a big effort and caught and passed her. I had to dig deep on those last 2 laps, but I was able to stay in 5th for the rest of the race. I was really pleased with my race overall, and glad to put Offenburg behind me.
That night we went into downtown Madrid, which was really cool, even though we were only there for a few hours. I was hoping to find some delicious Spanish food- tapas or paella, but while we managed to find an expensive (the dollar doesn’t get you too far) restaurant, the food was pretty crappy. I wish I had known someone local who could have pointed us in the right direction. Maybe next time.
I got home yesterday and it has been so nice to be back. All the flowers are starting to come out in my garden and our little house looks really cute! No racing this weekend, but I’m sure I’ll come up with something to do…