Pretty Fast

June 25, 2011

Teammates: Kate, Victoria, Mackinzie, Josie, Abbie, Julia, Helene

5th, Pro Women

Since the junior category age cut-off at Annadel was 17 and I’m already 18, I decided to register for Pro, since I was going to have to do the long course anyway. After putting an “I ride for Vanessa Hauswald” sticker on my bike, I managed to get a great starting position, in the very fist row, but as I waited for the start several middle-aged men wearing flowery jerseys with unshaved legs decided it was okay to cut in front of me and in front of the line we were supposed to be behind, so by the time the race got going I was a couple rows back. The giant mass start through the streets of Santa Rosa was crazy, and someone went down right near where I was, but I managed to avoid getting caught in the chaos. As we sprinted along the pavement another girl with a pro license plate caught up to me. I was somewhat surprised she was keeping up considering she was wearing a cotton t-shirt, beat-up sneakers that didn’t clip into her pedals and Harry Potter type glasses that actually had tape wrapped around the middle part. I pushed

myself to get away from her and managed to drop her for a while, but soon she reappeared right on my wheel on one of the climbs, so I went really hard to drop her again and she disappeared behind me. Then I caught up to Abbie on a road section and she told me there was another pro woman right ahead of us, so we team time trialed it up to her, but not in time to pass her before the single-track. I tried repeatedly to pass her, but she kept aggressively boxing me out and going to whichever side I said I would be passing on. Guys starting piling up behind us, and after one of them yelled at her, she finally let me squeeze past.  Then Julia caught up to me, and behind her was the Harry Potter glasses girl.

I fed off of Julia’s bubbly energy to go hard again and drop the girl and managed to loose sight of her. Julia then passed me, but I caught up to her at the top of the climb, and got to follow her down the super sweet descent, which was so much fun. Sadly, Julia soon flatted, so I was on my own again for a while. Then, the Harry Potter glasses girl reappeared again, so I went all out to try to drop her once and for all. It seemed like I finally had, because I didn’t see her for the entire final climb or descent, but then when I got to the final section of fire-road right before the finish she suddenly came flying past me and I tried as hard as I could to pass her again, but she’d already gotten a gap. I was still stoked just to have gotten to race this amazing course on sweet trails with my awesome teammates. Can’t wait to see what the rest of camp has in store!

Great job to everyone else!