by Stephanie Kingery

Race: 2 Hours from Anywhere Crit
Date: September 27-29, 2002
Place: Murphy, NC

Friday, Sept 27th:

It was cloudy, misty and foggy. We drove the course, TT first and RR second. TT looked pretty easy, RR looked hilly in the back 4 miles. We get ready, go down and register. The local volunteers are all hospital workers (they were the main sponsor). It's a good thing they don't rely on their attention to detail to keep people alive while in hospital....wait a
minute, they do, I guess they have procedures they must follow.....and there weren't any here, so it was a bit of mayhem, but we got through it, and they all meant well, no harm done......

We rode the course to warm up (not enough though). I went off at 5.08.00 and Jeff (hubbys first too) at 5.08.30. BTW, once you get up at the start line and the guy is holding you upright while clipped in, it is pretty cool. Off I go, oh yeah, I am in the wrong gear, please shift up, please?!?!? Okay, it does, oh yeah, start your computer and heart rate monitor, they aren't any good while off. So after the first 1/2 mile, I finally have everything kinda settled and we head up the long low gradiant. I did hear a "Go Bella Go" as I passed some spectators, that was cool. Man, am I breathing hard. I look down at my HRM, oh my, 179. I never go that high!! Nerves. So I get more nervous that I am nervous, my speed slows down
because I am peddling and breathing so inefficiently, before the top of the climb I am passed by Jeff, well that's fine, I expected it. Continue on to the turn around. Up a shortish hill 3/4 mi and get passes by some Pro 1/2 guys with their cool TT bikes and funny sounding disc wheels. OH well. Over the hill and heading down to the finish, I am happy that my avg is creeping upwards, and finish with my 18.4 avg. In last years times, I would be middle of the pack, this year, I ended up last. Oh yeah, and our special guest for the race....Jeanne Longo (2001 World TT Champion)....who kicked everyone's bum in the TT except for a few pro/1/2 guys.

Saturday, Sept 28th:

Not too much of a warm up again, maybe 15 minutes, but I thought I was a bit less nervous, I was hoping. We line up at the line, the race officials start to comment on how our numbers are all on wrong and procede to fix our numbers! 3
of the 7 women hadn't raced before. So the experienced racers knew they had an easier race (in theory). We stayed together pretty easily for the first 10-12 miles. It was the first real climb, I stayed with them for most of the climb, then the 4 exp racers broke a bit on the steeper part of the hill, we weren't very far back, but as they surged, my legs wouldn't go, I tried, then my HR blew up (yet again) and started wheezing for air, I crested the hill, and started down the pretty technical descent. Next I hear, SLAP and skidding noises. The girl riding for PeopleSoft went down going into the third turn on the descent. We had to slow down to go around her and continued down the hill. I caught up to the girl in front of me, and the other newbie was just in front of us. I was still tweaked from my HR, and worked with the girl for a while, but couldn't get control of my HR and breathing. I slowed down a bit and she rode off. I went over the second hill alone
and knew I had the steep one coming. I started up it, slowly trying to pace myself, but I was still tweaked from everything and ended up walking the last little bit. I got to the top and talked to some spectators for a while, since time didnt' really matter at this point. I was seriously considering stopping, but on the descent I got a bit upset that I walked up that hill. What a wuss I was being! So I was determined to continue on my second lap and make it up the darn hill, and I did. I calmed down, rode a pretty good pace around the front of the course, refilled on water and gu. I hadn't seen any riders for a while, so I wasn't surprised that on my second climb on the back part of the course, the race moto came up
and told me the masters are coming, the masters are coming! I quickly descended, hoping to make it down before them, as I didn't want to be swarmed upon on the descent. So I am slowly motoring up the big bill, the masters catch me, and pass
me like I was standing still (or like I was going 3mph. I made it up the hill, had to go around some guy who was sitting in the middle of the street on the steep part, with his bike perpendicular to me (what was that all about?). Yeah, I made it up!
Easy descent from here. So I finished the RR just behind the couple of guys who fell off the masters group. Whew. And yes, I was last, or second to last if you count the girl who crashed and dnf. Kevin, Heather and Chewie (friends - yippie) were cheering me on, along with quite a few other folks as I finished. I was very happy I stuck it out.

Sunday , Sept 29th:

Happy to be doing the criterium, but again, with little warmup after we hauled a$$ across the mtns to get there on time. At least I have done this before and Trish was there, so I was a bit more comfy knowing someone who races. We warmed up chatting while going around the course, and finally, they call us. There were 5 racers. We start, I stayed on the back, trying to stay on around the turns. My legs are sooo dead. I am not cornering well, and start to get dropped. People are
cheering for me to catch back up, I try, and almost do it as the group seemed to slow down for a lap, but as I almost caught them up the hill, both quads twinged, and said "NO, we are not doing this anymore!" and started to cramp. I never cramp, but ugh, I was done. I probably could have rode through it, but it was painful. So I stopped on the back side of the course, told the officials I was done, and drank some water and stretched while we cheered on Trish. She was having a rough day, her asthma was acting up, so she was having a hard time breathing. NOTE: the two girls who came in first and second overall were fast, the 2nd place cat 4 girl then raced the women's pro/1/2/3 crit and came in second behind Jeanne Longo (who lapped the field twice if not three times).  No pics either, always remember to verify there is film in the camera before you start shooting!

The good news was that of the 4 girls who registered for the omnium, one crashed out and bumped me to third. I was "in the money" for the three day event and got back 1/2 my entry fee. I guess there is some reward for persistance. I do know how much more I need to train, and where I need to push myself. All in all a very good learning experience and all the women were pretty cool and supportive. I am going to give the Michelin Classic a go in two weeks, a massage,
more miles and fresher legs are sure to help be a big difference!

Stephanie after a long but successful race weekend.

The view from Haysville, NC, site of Sunday's crit.

Photos courtesy of Stephanie