Cannon Falls Road Race...Yuck!

So today was not fun at all. It was a windy, crash-filled mess. People were blowing into eachother from the start. About ten miles into the race, a big crash happened and I rode into the weeds to avoid it. The pack was strung out single-file at the time in the brutal winds. So I started chasing.

I caught the tail-end of the shattered pack by the time we hit the two mile dirt section. And then I hit a huge pile of deep gravel. I do not know how I stayed upright, but after that I rode the dirt at a pace within my comfort zone, which was unfortnately slower than most others. I have virtually no experience riding in dirt...and it came to haunt me today. Once I was happily on pavement again, some top riders like Tina Pic and Rachel Heal were in my group off the back. They each had teammates to assist them, so I thought for sure we would catch back on. Nope! We were off the back the rest of the day, fighting the wind and frustrated. We picked up a bunch of girls getting dropped along the way and ended in a big group. We were so far behind they didn't let us do the finishing laps in Cannon Falls. Luckily my teammate Megan was in the group with me. It is always a comfort to have a teammate with you!

After the race, I noticed my arms and legs were covered in insanely itchy bumps. Turns out I had gone off the road into stinging nettle! The paramedics helped me out, washed me off and gave me some benadryl.

So my goal of having fun will have to wait until another stage. But my goal of getting a good hard race in before Nationals is definitely getting accomplished.