Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Fitchburg Synopsis

Fitchburg was, in a nutshell, a great success! Caley and I arrived early evening on Wednesday planning on pre-riding the time trial course, but the weather looked iffy, so we drove. Good thing too, because about ten minutes into the drive, it started to pour as only rain on the east coast can pour! Dinner at Olive Garden that night where the portions are for three people instead of one...literally, neither one of us could finish! Next morning was clearish and sunny, I went off first and felt pretty good climbing the 6.5 mile course. I think I ended up 36th or something like that. Caley finished well in around 15th place? In any case, he did well. We tried eating at the hotel that night, but after sitting for about 20 minutes without even being spoken to by a waiter (of which they had one...and only about 10 customers total...) we decided to risk it in town. To our surprise, Fitchburg was hopping! Civic Days or something like that. Caley introduced me to fried dough, and we wandered the streets until settling on a pizza place for a delicious calzone and some more fried dough. Apparently fried dough is the ultimate pre-race food:) The next day dawned cold and rainy and completely socked in. Needless to say, we were both pretty unhappy about starting:( Caley went off first this time, I followed by about 10 minutes, and didn't get lapped by any boys, yay!! I managed to hang on the the front group for most of the race, only getting popped completely off the back on the last loop. I was kind of popped on the one hill pretty much every time, but only because I don't have the kick these darn low elevation girls do over the tops of the hills! Anyway, finished a little ways behind the front group, got into around 46th place overall. Caleys parents showed up as well and managed the feed zone. It's always cheerful to see people you know on the side lines:) Circuit race was fast, again only one big hill that I got popped on. I managed to find a group of about 6 other girls and we all finished together. Caley took 2nd place in his race!!!!!!! It was so exciting!!!! I can't believe the kick that boy has, especially on an uphill sprint finish:) The crit was pretty much the same for me, hanging on to the back of the tigers tail. I just can't seem to be able to get myself up in to the top twenty consistently. Again, my lack of acceleration out of the corners and over the tops of the hills is a big weakness. Caley got second again!!!!!!! He really should have won, 10 more feet and he would have had the guy, if he'd had a leadout it wouldn't have even been a problem. All in all a very successful weekend, and I got to meet some of the Botte family (Caley's moms side) as well. Next post shall be about Boston...don't have time to do it justice right now. Love you all! ciao, Megan

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