Category:35-44 age group
No in field:12
Finishing position: 7th
Position in age category: 3rd
I thought with this being the State Champs there would have been more riders in my category, two age groups were merged together so at the start there were 12 of us.
The pace started off very slow which surprised me considering most of the riders were cat 1’s and 2’s, I thought they would be off the front straight away. The pace lifted once we were passed by another group, at this point a couple of riders dropped off the back. Myself and another girl hung on a bit longer and once we were dropped we rode the last part of the climb together. Once we reached South Flynn she told me that she was only riding one lap so I carried on by myself.
Luckily there were plenty of other riders about so although I couldn’t ride with them I constantly had someone nearby so I kept the pace as high as possible.
Although I rode the second lap solo it seemed to pass very quickly although i did unship my chain with a mile to go I finished the race.
Results took a long time because with the categories being mixed if you finish outside the first six you are listed as dnp. With this being a state championship I had to wait until they split the categories and then announce who were in the top three. Eventually after about an hour I found out that I had finished third overall for the bronze medal.
I enjoy this race purely that it is close to home and is challenging. Hopefully more team members will ride next year.