Spring Break of an athlete

Being an elite athlete, school breaks aren’t really breaks at all, they’re just opportunities for more training. As a teenage girl I still want to enjoy my breaks a little.  This year I went to Florida to visit some family, friends and of course for some time in the sun. Florida weather may have been a little better than Oklahoma’s, but in no way did I escape the wind.  So with all my kits, swim suits and tanning oil, we loaded up my bike and drove down to FL for the week.  We stayed on the shores of Daytona Beach; it was beautiful waking up to the sunset on the waves.  The riding weather was close to perfect everyday; I only got sprinkled on once during a training ride and got poured on during my first race Saturday morning.  I had some amazing friends that I got to get closer with and ride with, which is always my favorite part. Some of the bonds you make in this sport are close to unbreakable. One of my favorite days was Wednesday; I got to race in a practice circuit race in Clermont, Fl.  It was a smooth course with a bunch of good competition; one thing I loved seeing is the amount of junior racers that were out there! I love seeing this sport grow in a good way; they were also pretty fast too. Of course most of my trip was spent riding, but I did have some time for a little fun!  My free time was spent at the beach, watching movies, eating ice cream and mini golfing with my favorite people.  To round off the amazing break I raced Saturday in the Delray Twilight festival criterium.  I race the W123 in the morning and got 5^th racing in the pouring rain! Later that day I did the WP123 and got my butt kicked, it was a great experience to be racing with such talented and knowledgeable women.  I also loved watching some of my closest friends race the mens pro race, 2 hours of crit racing is rough! I was so lucky to get the opportunity to go to Florida and make some new friends and get some more miles in! I definitely want to come back next year and get under the lights at Delray again!