a little update on collegiate cycling...

this weekend i did unh.  40 mile hilly road race and points race
(originally 35k, shortened to 20k)

the road race was rolling hills, 10 mile loop.  the pack disintegrated on
the first lap. (14 starters, maybe?)  by lap 2 we were down to seven.  the
two uvm girls were talking to each other on their radios (just like the
pros!) and one of them got away while the other controlled the pace and
gave the first updates on how far behind we were.  at some point we lost  
someone and were down to five.  i was suffering hard but managed to stay
on.  too sore to even try to chase.  felt overgeared in my 42x23.  the
five of us stayed together til the end.  i came around right before the
200 meter sign and won the sprint.  2nd place.  something like 10 minutes
behind first place.

the crit.  pouring rain, tapering off by afternoon.  (it was snowing by
the time we left.)  the course was at the new hampshire international
speedway.  a bit twisty 1k loop with an uphill sprint.  we opted for the
shorter 20k option, which meant we sprinted 5 times.  the race was run as
a points race, in whichthe winner is not determined by who finishes first,
but by who gets the most sprint points.  i tried to stay up front from the
gun because i'd seen the other fields string out pretty badly through the
two downhill corners.  during the whole race, the magnet on my front wheel
was hitting the sensor on my fork in a very loud, distracting manner,
which kind of bothered me.  i was near the front for the first sprint,
which i won.  four of us broke away (uconn, uvm--same girl who won    
yesterday, cornell) and stayed together for the second sprint, when we
lost cornell.  i was in a lot of pain from my effort in the road race, but
kept telling myself to hang on for just one more sprint.  i made it
through the third, then to the fourth, then to the fifth and final
sprint--and i won them all!  the girl who got second, i found out later
from a umass guy, is "a cat(egory) 2, almost a cat 1."  i was pretty
happy, to say the least.

i'm currently leading the standings for women in the eastern conference
with about 180 points after 6 races, 4 to go.  (mina pizzini, who is
practically a pro and so misses collegiate races do to big races out west
is in second with 130 points.)  as a result i'm also leading division
2.  so i will almost certainly qualify for nationals for division 2, but
probably won't need to rely on my individual points because I think tufts
will qualify as a team.  i'm pretty excited.  it was a good day, despite
having to sit for several hours in a van with 7 people because it was
pouring outside, and having to stay over in new hampshire to   
"supervise" four 18-20-year-old boys on my team.