Author

Courtney O'Neill on May 9, 2015

Race name: Monsters of the Midway Race date: Saturday, May 9, 2015

I was on the biggest endorphin high this afternoon/evening (and the beers at the Cycle Smithy open house certainly didn't hurt...). No, I didn't win Monsters. But it's almost even better.

After Sue, Monika Ellen and I raced the Women's Open (congrats on 5th Ellen!), thirteen xXx ladies lines up for the 3/4s. 13! A few of us were a little concerned about the sketch factor, so I had decided that I was just going to stay at the front of this one to avoid it. There were some tentative plans about getting one or two xXx'ers off the front with Psimet, but that was about it in terms of race plans/goals. We get the whistle, there's a hustle to get to the front of the field, and about 1/3 of a lap in I saw an opportunity. I attacked up the outside of the backstretch, knowing that I had good teammates at the front to block, and it stuck! I was off the front of the race by myself for about 3 laps (during which a crash occurred, but luckily none of us were caught up in it) before 4 racers from various teams caught me, and while we organized a rotating paceline, Sue was smart enough to decide that the odds were not in my favor and organized an effort to bring the field up to us. Maybe a lap later (just enough time for me to catch my breath) Emily followed the wheel of an Albertos' rider and attacked. Alberto's, however didn't have the staying power and Emily had popped her within no time flat. Even though Emily has won Lincoln Park off the front, by herself... no one in the field seemed to concerned for awhile. Perfect I thought, let her grow the lead and then she'll be able to stay away. xXx blocked like champs. I made it my goal to stay 2nd wheel the whole race, and every time I looked around I'd see another matching jersey backing me up. Christine Thornburg of Psimet did a ton of work for the field (seemingly with little backup) and the blocking worked beautifully. Towards the end of the race it became clear that Emily was solid for the W, and we began preparing for the sprint. In addition to Emily's win, Sue pulled out an awesome 3rd, Erika 5th, myself 6th, Katie 7th, Sarah 10th, Gia 13th, Kim 17th!, Monika 25th, Sharon 26th, April 31st, Michele 32nd, Kiki 33rd.

We were 37% of the field, 60% of the top 10, 66.6% of the podium, and 100% team awesome! I have never been more proud of our ladies racing squad as I was today.