today went considerably better.  again, i was up sometime between 3 and
3:30 am to go to work, which sucked.  so i'd worked 6 hours before i left
to drive to fitchburg.

didn't have a lot of time so i skipped the clif bar and listening to
cracker.  hung out a bit with one of my teammates in the 4s.  we warmed up
for about 10 minutes, then we were off.  (the 4s, 3s, and pro1-2s were all
on the 3 mi course at the same time... crazy.)  oh, before we went off i
got to meet tina mayolo of autotrader.com who is totally totally nice.

so, we were off.  we went at a pretty easy pace in the beginning.  we did
8 laps, every other lap sprinting for Queen of the Mountain/sprint
points.  (i think it's pretty stupid that this jersey is combined hills
and sprints instead of having them as two jerseys which is normal, but
whatever.)  i had one teammate, liz, who volunteered to lead me out and
did an awesome, awesome job.  she would motor down the hill, got me on my
wheel, got through the final corner in front of the field, and i took the
first sprint (up a fairly big climb) about 8 bike lengths ahead of the
pack.  got back in.  the next sprint didn't go very well.  liz tried to      
lead me out again but as we were coming up on the inside she bunnyhopped
to avoid a pothole but it was too late for me.  (we were still on the
downhill.)  i smacked it super hard and would have pinch-flatted if i'd
been using clincher tires.  instead, my handlebars dropped pretty far
down, and i couldn't recover in time.  5th in the sprint, no points.

the third sprint on the 6th lap was a disaster.  i don't know what
happened, but yvonne from bam/komen crashed right in front of me.  i
swerved because i was on a path to ride right over her body after she
flipped through the air.  as liz described it, "all i saw was pink and
blue, blue and pink, pink and blue going around and around."  lucking she
was fine.  to avoid hitting her, i pulled out of my right pedal, giving
myself a killer cramp in my calf.  plus i was behind the pack.  i managed
to move up to the middle during the sprint.

by the end of lap 7 i was in 2nd position, which i was unable to hold.  i
tried to stay in front during the rest of the lap but the cramp was     
bothering me.  liz tried to lead me out but i didn't think i could sprint
with the leg.  but as i came around the last corner, i was okay, and
passed about 15 people going up the hill, finishing 4th by a few
inches.  oh well.

lessons learned: stop sitting in the back; it's easier to avoid crashes if
i'm in front of them.

i need to get in front at the climbs because i'm actually a better climber
than i think i am and passing people is harder than just being in front of
them to start with.  (this is all part of my plan to develop the ego of a
fighter pilot, which is essential to being a great bike racer.)

other news: got some cool schwag from my team, t-shirt and a pint glass,
quite happy.  the girl team thing is finally working out the way i wanted
it to.  also, i now have 17 upgrade points which means i need only 8 more
to be in the zone to upgrade to cat 2.  but i can stay a 3 if i want as
long as i'm between 25 and 60 points.  (winning a crit is worth 7 points,      
placings go down from there; a road race is 10, etc.)  and that's not
counting davis square so i might actually have a few more points than
that. =)

michele and betty