Toona Day 4 - Pulled Pork

Yep. Pulled. 2 laps from the 15 lap cutoff to get a prorated time and be counted in GC. DNF.
I woke up tired on Sunday. Physically and mentally. It was crit day. 30 laps, 30 miles, 1 hour. I knew what was coming.
Race time was 1:50. I spent the morning packing up to be able to get in the car as quickly as possible after the race, and we went for a 30 minute spin at 10:00.
I knew I needed to eat something around 11:30 but couldn't even look at another pbj. I went with some leftover pasta and a little butter and parmesan.
At noon we rode over to Altoona for the last time. It was hot. I tried to stay motivated as the laps of the men's race counted down, and they held the kid's fun races. Finally, it was time to go to the line. Everyone (67 of us left of the 78 starters) crowded on the sidewalk on both sides of the road, waiting to dash for a good spot. We rolled up, and they told us to take a lap. Got one chance to see the corners on the course (start/finish on a 5 block straight, RT, slight uphill for a block, RT, more slight uphill for a few blocks, downhill, LT/RT chicane, RT for a block, RT for 2 blocks, LT for block, and RT onto the start/finish straightaway again). It was actually a fun course, if you're not just suffering off the back with a few other girls just trying not to get pulled instead of actually being in the race. You needed to all-out sprint the free lap in order to come back around to the start line at the front of the group, and I got pushed pretty far back already. Not a good sign. The whistle blew, riders at the front took off, and those of us closer to the back were immediately yoyoing at the end of the strung-out line of riders. Not too long and the elastic broke ahead of me, and riders started dropping off like flies. No way to get past them and go fast enough to latch on again. A group of us, inlcuding Amy and Marjo got together and cycled through and hung on as long as we could, but not long enough. Up ahead, Jenny was in there until a crash split the front group and she was in the second group on the road, which included the yellow jersy of the PK Express team, so Colavita, who had Janel Holcomb second on GC at 1:15, just gunned it at the front. Jenny and the yellow jersey and one of her teammates tried, with no help from the hangers on in their group, but they lost time every lap. They didn't pull the yellow jersey, and so they were eventually caught by the front group. Worked from trying so hard, Jenny eventually came out the back of that group, but did make it to the finish. Jane hung in there as well. The rest of us 'didn't make it. 27 people didn;t finish the crit. Of the 78 starters, only 40 finished the entire race.
It was a tough but good experience. I learned a lot, about racing and myself. Got to know a great bunch of people a little better. Time to take stock and figure out the rest of the season.
Thanks for reading,
-a