BB #2: Molly’s 2nd Chicken Dinner!
Race Report: Banana Belt #2: Molly’s 2nd Chicken Dinner!
For you voracious race report readers, you may recall that last week I predicted a literal clinic to be put on by Molly this week… Well…
Minutes before Molly’s race she gets a flat! She does a quick Superwoman flat fix and shows up at the start line just before the whistle.
Molly MacGraw commanding an angry peloton. All rights reserved by dcmackintosh
No problem right?… Less than a half of a lap into the race and Molly frikin’ gets another flat?!?! She pulled over quickly and held out her hand. Luckily the wheel driver was on the ball, handed her a wheel to replace the one she had already taken off her bike. She was off again significantly behind her field. Molly was pissed, and she said her first goal was just to get back to the field. She spent the rest of the lap TT’ing and turning herself inside out to catch up to the field. Her field had already dismissed her as out of the race, and to their surprise she shows up and gets in line!! Molly spent the rest of the lap with good legs and taking good turns at the front to keep up the pace.
With 1k to go in the last lap a competitor went off the front and Molly jumped on her wheel. The girl popped at about 500m or so and Molly looked back to see a gaining pack. Wait for the pack…? Press on….? Was there every really a debate? I think not! She got out of her seat and put down the Hamm’r! Molly won easily by a minute over second place. Can you say Chicken Dinner with an emphatic win and a flat tire? Molly can!
As for my race, well, it was not quite so heroic. In my current emaciated state I apparently am a salamander and the cold wet conditions are kryptonite. I wore the warm clothes I brought but was badly under dressed. I was hypo-thermic for 4.5 out of 5 laps. I literally was full body shaking and bike shimmering on every descent. My jaw was convulsing the entire race and my neck muscles were locked up from tensing and shivering. I matched the first attempted break but missed the second one a half lap into the race and that was the winning break. I could see they were staying away so I went to bridge and brought them within striking distance. But an Eff’ing cold body, stupid long drive yesterday, crappy sleep and who knows what else I can blame this on, I just wasn’t able to find the two more accelerations I needed to finish bridging. I fell back into the group and tried everything I could to motivate the unmotivated group with blockers to work together. A couple guys were willing to get after it, but most weren’t and I spent almost all the flats and descents in the front trying to move the group only to hang on the climbs and move the front again after the climbs. At lap 3 my teeth were chattering so badly and fingers not working so badly I actually hit the breaks by the cars to pull out of the race for self preservation. But I decided to continue and instead of working with the group just go off the front to try and work hard enough to warm up. I did that for 3/4 of a lap until they caught me again. I spent the last lap STUPID COLD and trying to set up for the sprint. The 2 man break away won, and I sprinted to 9th over all. Where were those guys in front of me on the sprint when it came to pulling back the break?!?!
My goals are always
#1 Have Fun
#2 Learn Something
#3 Work my ass off.
I did all these except Having Fun was pretty tough that cold. Back in the car Molly told me she was really worried about how I was acting, my eyes looked crazy, and my shivering was concerning her. A short nap and a sandwich later and my hands work well enough to write this report.
We had a blast at the race and Molly is ONE POINT from her Cat3 upgrade. WAY TO GO MOLLY!!!
