Hey Sports Fans! Sorry about being MIA in the blog department yesterday... despite the wildfire rumor that it was quite possible that my celebratory activities may have won out over my blogging activities. Truth be told.. After a sleepless night, morning of racing and afternoon of Pit Crewing... I was foaming at the mouth by 9:00 pm, making no sense what-so-ever and just had to call it a night.
So... realizing that 24+ hours have already passed and many of you are well aware of the outcome... I'm fill you in on some of the stuff that took place behind the scenes.
In case you aren't up on the race results... I will with a great deal of humility include the results for everyone on the Blue Steel Team & racing friends we are traveling with.
After racing for as many years as I have... I know the fine line that lies between 1st and last place...
At some point in my career, I have inhabited both of those positions.
The only real difference between 1st and last place is.... the person in 1st, just happens to be suffering farther up the road.
Paul Curley - 1st Place
Kathy Sarvary - 1st Place
Tom Stevens - 34th Place
Jeff Tripp - 37th Place
Karen Tripp - 3rd Place
Jerry White - 38th Place
Libby White - 8th Place
So here's some of the behind the scene stuff.
Day race morning Tom, Karen and I did course check out at 8:00am and that was the time we set race strategy.
The course at 8:00 was frozen ruts but at 10:30... we knew it was going to start to get really greasy and slick and folks were going to start freaking out, so with that said... Tom wanted me to take the lead from the gun and control the pace... particularly on the greasy climbs and in the technical sections, regardless of the cost.
I did take the hole shot and had the lead up the beginning of the big climb... there was a attack, where 2 riders tried to pass... I counter attacked and then attacked a second time 150 meters from the top, opening up a 8 second gap.
During the next 4 laps... I crashed 4 times due to the slick conditions and had to take a bike change each lap due to the peanut butter mud. The mud both added weight to the bike and clogged the gears, brakes, cranks, pedals, tires and anything else it could stick to, including the rider.
My lead yo yo-ed from the 20 second range up to 45 seconds, back down to 26 seconds... The biggest challenge were the course conditions.
The scariest moment for me took place in the last lap at the farthest point on the course. I had a 45 second lead and crashed on fast muddy decent and when I bounced off the deck I found my chain had slapped back and my chain had sucked under the chain guard. For the next 25 seconds I fought panic and worked as fast as I could to get the chain back on the chain ring while the crowd was screaming that 2nd place was closing in...
At moments like that, the instinct is to run like hell! But, that only works when there's a pit, with a Pit Tootsie close by... but both pit and Pit Tootsie were at least a 1/2 mile away.... so I had to stay put and fix it or I was going to lose the jersey!
So... I got the chain back on and knew that I had to ride the balance of the race with zero defects... with that said, everything worked out. It was a great day.
With regards to Karen's 3rd place finish... I just have to say this.
What a race.... what an amazing result!
The 2 women who placed in front of Karen collectively have a closet full of National Titles between them... and that's not to mention the rest of the fire power that filled up the field that Karen had to
race against.
As the conditions in my race dictated.. . Karen had to take a fresh bike each lap
Karen finished at least 30 seconds in front of 4th place...which tells you the caliber of race that Karen delivered to get one of the top 3 spots on the podium. I couldn't be prouder of my teammate.
As the day went on, the course conditions got tougher. The mud got stickier which translated into sections that were rideable in previous races, becoming totally unrideable and the racer being forced to run those sections. Tough racing all the way around!
I also want to say...
Great job to Paul, Libby, Jerry, Jeff and Tom!! They each delivered some great, great races in some really tough conditions.
New England Teams have already taken their fair share of National titles and we still have 2 days of racing to go... so, it's going to be fun to watch.
For the next 2 days, we'll be happily behaving as spectators. We will get a little training in, but we are going to lay low and have a bit of fun. On Monday we then hop into the vans and head down to Louisville KY, and start prepping for what will be our last race of the season.
It is overdo, but I want to thank everyone for all of the kind emails, texts and calls of encouragement and most recently all the congrats messages, that I and my teammates have gotten over the past several days .
On a personal note: I would also like to thank everyone... most of all, my loved ones, the Crew at Blue Steel (that kept my equipment running and run the shop when I race), my Blue Steel teammates and friends for helping me keep all things mechanically, mentally and physically on track. That is never a easy task.
So... a long winded blog, not sure it makes any sense at this point. I am now drinking a celebratory margarita with my teammates ... feel free to join me at your end!
Will talk with you all soon!
Kath
