Alpenrose Challenged

A tale of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good

- I did not go to the hospital

- I rode on 47 degree banks

- There were so many women signed up that they split the mass start fields into PRO 1-2 and Cat 3. I came in 8th out of 12ish in the 5-mile scratch. I felt like I could have done much better, but the other women couldn't or wouldn't help to chase down a break so it ended up more a pack sprint and I was too wigged out by the unevenness and banking of the track to do any spirited sprinting.

- I was super inspired watching Juice and Kele battle it out with the other PROs and kick ass on this crazy track! They both gave Jane and I some much needed words of wisdom and support, esp Juice's equally demoralizing story about her first time racing at Alpenrose years ago when she......well you'll just have to race down there and earn the right to hear her story!

- I had the most fun catching up with former Seattlites Jose, Sharon, and Kori and just chillin' under our tent. They took a ton of photos that captured the power and speed on the track as well as the festive community on the infield. Now I'm more excited than ever to return to Alpenrose.....for Cross Crusade!!

The Bad

- Yours truly gets to start her racing by being the first person to do the 200 meter TT. Are you kidding me? I have all of 20 minutes on this whacky track, most of it trying to negotiate around 50 other riders and remembering to breathe, and I have to go FIRST? So I asked for some advice from the locals and did a flying shot in the dark. And came in DFL. Woohoo!!!

- There were at least 5 crashes that I saw over the weekend, which left me shuddering whenever I heard the bikes roar through the first turn near our tent. My stomach was sick anticipating another crash. Oh, and then I'M supposed to participate in a pack race. I spent most of my time staying far away from anyone's wheel and trying to control my bike that was fighting bad physics through the turns and bumps in the concrete that tossed us around.

The Ugly

- The worst track crash (not on YouTube yet for some reason) I ever seen, right in front of our team tent. Not a good way for a wide-eyed newbie to start her weekend of racing. I saw it happening, shut my eyes, opened them again only to see a guy flying up by the rail so I shut my eyes again expecting them all to be dead. Luckily they all eventually walked away with only some track rash. Make sure to note the wheel and part of its fork hurtling through space.

- In another bad crash, a poor guy slid on his front side across the apron, ripping the front of his skin suit and getting some nasty track rash on his face and half of his chest, nearly ripping off a nipple. Is track racing worth losing a nipple? I think not.