DFL

When I upgraded to a Cat. 3 at the end of last season, I did two races and finished last in both. This season, I had done 5 races up until today. I had finished in the back of the group but had beat a couple of girls in most races and wasn't last in any of them. Up until today. 9th out of 9 in the Women 1/2/3's.

The Hawthorne Woods course was nearly half pavement and nearly half wide-open grass. (I was told later in the day that with it being the first year for the venue they wanted to use as much pavement as possible to prevent damage.) There was also a toboggan sled hill that we rode up, rode down, went back up with a barrier at the bottom and then rode down once more. I pre-rode the course and thought immediately it was suited more to roadies and hit pretty much all of my weaknesses. I also thought immediately Damn, I might be dead last. The hill is actually what did me in. I now know what I need to work on. I rode it after the barrier three times and ran twice. I ended up with an avg. HR of 190 and a max of 199 but my lap times took a nose dive during the course of the five laps. Icky.

Tom's race went slightly better as he was 29th out of 49 but he was pretty disappointed as well. As a bonus, my car tire blew as I started driving there this morning. I had already been running late. Luckily, I was still close to home and a good samaritan came to my aid so I just had to give Tom the tire by the time he showed up. New tire: $60.

I'm thinking of racing in Verona on Saturday and the Carpentersville race with the Chicago series on Sunday but am not totally sure. I like the Wisconsin courses so much better than the Chicago ones but also need to try to beat two xXx girls for series points.