If I could use one word to describe my 2014 road season it would be, Eventful, but since this road season can't be summed up in just ONE word here are a few others, enlightening, electrifying, riveting, pretentious, bloodcurdling, zoo like and providential. All these words sum up my 2014 road season. This year started off at Vally of the Sun in Phoenix, Arizona. This was one of my very first races as a cat three (I also had a broken leg), some of the women that I was racing with have been to the olympics and many were professional level National Champions... intimidating much? I was dropped on the second lap in the road race, after this race my outlook for the rest of the season wasn't very positive. I was extremely down on myself and didn't expect any results for the rest of the year. When I got back home I trained as much as my doctor would let me. My next big race was the Tour of Murrieta in California, at this race I stayed in the P123 criterium, my first actual result of the season and I was ecstatic. A few local races passed with some ups and down then I headed to Monterey, California for the Sea Otter classic. The first race I earned a pack finish, that night I got horrible food poising and couldn't race the next two races. I went home after this race in a slump again, but I knew one of my A races was coming up, Joe Martin Stage Race. After the time trail I was sitting in 21st, the road race was on the same day. The road race has 2 big hills that I know would for sure break up the pack, after the first hill the group split in 2 and I was in the main pack. After a few more hills I was dropped into the chase pack I walked away from that race with 8th place. After another 8th place in the crit I ended up 10th in the GC which I was extremely proud of. Now that my season had started to change for the better I knew I had to keep the ball rolling, my next race was the Saint Francis Tulsa Tough and I wanted a podium finish more than anything. About a month before SFTT I was in a pretty bad wreck that put me out for a little. I kept my training up and I walked away from SFTT with a 3rd place(yay!) on saturday and a 6th place on cry baby hill! My season kept getting better and better and my confidence was slowly coming back! Tour of Americas Dairyland and the Junior National Championships was next. At ToAD I got a 3rd place and 5th place which I couldn't be happier with! Nationals didn't go quite as planned, 19th in the brutal road race, I took 3 minutes of my TT time from last year and got a 10th place finish in the criterium! After nationals I headed up to Canada for the Tour of Rimouski where I got very sick at (again) and couldn't finish the tour. I was away from home for a little less than 2 months and I was so excited to be back in Oklahoma! I only had a few more road races after I got back from my little adventure. My last race was THF Gateway Cup in St. Louis, Missouri, I wanted to do good at this race more than anything. Day 1 didn't go good, at all, after that race I was more motivated to do better and try new things because I had nothing to lose! Day 2 I was in a few breakaways and came away will all the premes and 11th place! Day 3 ended in a wreck... one lap after free laps ended, I did walk away from that race with a pretty cool chain ring bruise though. Day 4 I knew I had to give it everything I had, another breakaway that didn't stick and bad positioning into the last lap put me at another 11th place. I was disappointed in that result because I was feeling very good that day and just wasn't smart throughout that whole race.
So as road season comes to a close I know I have a long long longgg way to go and a ton to learn. I have made some amazing friends this year that I know I will have for a long time and gained some amazing experience. Thank you everyone who has supported me in this crazy, unpredictable year! I appreciate it more than you will ever know and I'm looking forward to some Cyclocross with my AMAZING team OKCX!! Ill be posting CX results and pictures here soon :)
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| 2nd place at local Tour de Trykes Twilight criterium |
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| in a breakaway on "The Hill" |
