After a three hour drive I arrived in Brooklyn, NY. It was 2am and I was exhausted and I had to be up super early to go to a race in Connecticuit.
Becca's boyfriend Alex had already informed us of our tactics for the race. With a slight incline 600m before the line I would attempt to 'drill' it up and over leading Becca out for the sprint. The first 45 minutes of the race went like clockwork. No one really made a break for it and, as seems to be the norm in women's races, it looked destined to be a bunch sprint.
With 1 lap to go I headed to the front. Just before the incline an attack went and I jumped on the wheel. As we hit the bottom of the incline, the girl I went with started to blow so I lauched it as planned. I just put my head down and kicked. A few moments latter I heard 'Kate'. Becca was on my wheel, but I had a problem. We were still 300m out and I was dying. I made it round the final corner first but swung off straight after. This was a mistake. Having never led anyone out before I didn't know that I'm not meant to swing off. Unfortunately, Becca ended up having to sprint the last 250m into a head wind with two other women on her wheel. Result - 3rd. Me 14th!
It transpires, however, that my attack was not in vain. The entire field was obliterated and only Becca and the two others had been able to get back onto my wheel. This guarenteed Becca a podium, prize money and upgrade points. Whoop! But I didn't realise how few people were behind me and I could have finished a lot higher up had I just kept going.
For a first attempt I think we rocked. It could have been better but we've got a few more races to finely tune the Evans Schepps lead out train!!!!
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Goodbye Pennsylvania....
In the past few weeks I've been doing shed loads of racing but none have been interesting enough to bore you with. However, this weekend's racing has had some noticable moments of brilliantness!
Saturday 9th July - Iron Hill Criterium - West Chester - PA
This race is on the US National Crit Series calander so I would return to the 'hang on for dear life' tactics I'd previously used at Dairyland. I was quietly confident the day before as the last one of these races I did all was looking great until I crashed with two laps to go. But it wasn't to be. Spending the day surfing the 20's in the blood sugar department (not a clue why?!) meant that my hopes disappeared down the drain at an alarming rate. So quickly in fact that I barely broke into a sweat. No matter how hard I pushed on the pedals, the response was the same - nothing.
But...the best thing of all - prize money went 30 deep. I finished 26th. So for sucking BIG TIME and lasting 10 mintues in the field, I, Kate Evans, made £30! Yes...that's right 30 of your finest english pounds or 45 of the not so fine American Dollar, for failing. This is more than I've ever made in the UK. Ever.
Although pretty disheartening the race was fantastic. Held in West Chester, the course was rammed. Spectators were two deep around the entire course, so it was pretty awesome (I know it's an Americanism) to have so many people watching my epic failure!
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This race was my final race in Pennslyvania. Straight afterwards I changed team-mates and headed in the direction of New York!!!!!!!
Saturday 9th July - Iron Hill Criterium - West Chester - PA
This race is on the US National Crit Series calander so I would return to the 'hang on for dear life' tactics I'd previously used at Dairyland. I was quietly confident the day before as the last one of these races I did all was looking great until I crashed with two laps to go. But it wasn't to be. Spending the day surfing the 20's in the blood sugar department (not a clue why?!) meant that my hopes disappeared down the drain at an alarming rate. So quickly in fact that I barely broke into a sweat. No matter how hard I pushed on the pedals, the response was the same - nothing.
But...the best thing of all - prize money went 30 deep. I finished 26th. So for sucking BIG TIME and lasting 10 mintues in the field, I, Kate Evans, made £30! Yes...that's right 30 of your finest english pounds or 45 of the not so fine American Dollar, for failing. This is more than I've ever made in the UK. Ever.
Although pretty disheartening the race was fantastic. Held in West Chester, the course was rammed. Spectators were two deep around the entire course, so it was pretty awesome (I know it's an Americanism) to have so many people watching my epic failure!
This race was my final race in Pennslyvania. Straight afterwards I changed team-mates and headed in the direction of New York!!!!!!!
Monday, July 4, 2011
Team mates
This blog entry is devoted to the brilliant people I call my team mates.
Back in the UK, I race for Wolverhampton Wheelers, where I pretty much ride for myself. I am my own domestique and my own lead out train. There are no team tactics. No pre-race discussions and nobody to work for but myself.
Yet, here, in the US, for two weeks at least, I had the absolute pleasure of riding and living with 6 wonderful women. Granted, we still mostly rode for ourselves, due in part to a vast gap in experience and strength, but spattered around the fortnight were fleeting glimpses of cohesion.
We had plans. Tactics were discussed. Lead outs arranged and although futile, 6 diabetics and one director came together to form Team Type 1.
Ladies and Gentlemen I introduce to you Team Type 1:
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From left to right:
Erin 'young un' Ball - The baby of our team. At 15 years of age, Erin held her own in the 3/4 races.
Mandy Marquardt - The 'trackie' of our team.
Me
Anne Findlay - Super strong Anne is the most meticulous diabetic I have ever met.
Becca Schepps - New Yorker Becca is super talented and uber strong.
Kori 'director' Seehafer - Kori's palmares is far too long to list but suffice to say a long career in europe, numerous world championships, and representing the US means she is fantastically positioned to teach us aspiring diabetic racers how to race.
Sarah Burkett - DC cop by day, runner and cyclist by night! Sarah has a vast array of comical cop stories that sent us into fits of laughter.
The best part about having these team mates - they, with the exception of Kori, have diabetes. These are the people who understand what I go through just to get to the startline with a good blood sugar because they have to go through the same stuff too. We don't just ride together because we're in a team, we ride together to prove that we can beat diabetes and compete with the best.
Back in the UK, I race for Wolverhampton Wheelers, where I pretty much ride for myself. I am my own domestique and my own lead out train. There are no team tactics. No pre-race discussions and nobody to work for but myself.
Yet, here, in the US, for two weeks at least, I had the absolute pleasure of riding and living with 6 wonderful women. Granted, we still mostly rode for ourselves, due in part to a vast gap in experience and strength, but spattered around the fortnight were fleeting glimpses of cohesion.
We had plans. Tactics were discussed. Lead outs arranged and although futile, 6 diabetics and one director came together to form Team Type 1.
Ladies and Gentlemen I introduce to you Team Type 1:
From left to right:
Erin 'young un' Ball - The baby of our team. At 15 years of age, Erin held her own in the 3/4 races.
Mandy Marquardt - The 'trackie' of our team.
Me
Anne Findlay - Super strong Anne is the most meticulous diabetic I have ever met.
Becca Schepps - New Yorker Becca is super talented and uber strong.
Kori 'director' Seehafer - Kori's palmares is far too long to list but suffice to say a long career in europe, numerous world championships, and representing the US means she is fantastically positioned to teach us aspiring diabetic racers how to race.
Sarah Burkett - DC cop by day, runner and cyclist by night! Sarah has a vast array of comical cop stories that sent us into fits of laughter.
The best part about having these team mates - they, with the exception of Kori, have diabetes. These are the people who understand what I go through just to get to the startline with a good blood sugar because they have to go through the same stuff too. We don't just ride together because we're in a team, we ride together to prove that we can beat diabetes and compete with the best.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Flying!
Sorry it's been a while. I've been busy. Bike racing! And my God has it been fun.
So I finished the Tour of America's Dairyland. (I'll fill you in on those details soon) 8 races in 10 days. It pretty much killed me but after 3 days of rest I got my rear end back on a bike - a track bike to be more precise and although a little rusty I got a pretty respectable 3rd in one race and 9th overall on the night.
Not content with one lot of track racing, I got up 12 hours later and hopped on the bike again. Again I was rusty but got 4th in the devil.
Why the heck not, I also raced today! A nice little 25 mile crit. No turns, just nice sweeping bends. It was fantastic. My legs felt great. I chased stuff down and I attempted to lead my team-mate out. (Turns out I suck at lead outs) But I got 6th in the end - out of 30 - so not a bad effort.
Thus, to conclude. I am flying. My legs feel great and I want to race and race and race.
Whoop!
So I finished the Tour of America's Dairyland. (I'll fill you in on those details soon) 8 races in 10 days. It pretty much killed me but after 3 days of rest I got my rear end back on a bike - a track bike to be more precise and although a little rusty I got a pretty respectable 3rd in one race and 9th overall on the night.
Not content with one lot of track racing, I got up 12 hours later and hopped on the bike again. Again I was rusty but got 4th in the devil.
Why the heck not, I also raced today! A nice little 25 mile crit. No turns, just nice sweeping bends. It was fantastic. My legs felt great. I chased stuff down and I attempted to lead my team-mate out. (Turns out I suck at lead outs) But I got 6th in the end - out of 30 - so not a bad effort.
Thus, to conclude. I am flying. My legs feel great and I want to race and race and race.
Whoop!
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