Clovis Criterium

I pretty much lied. I remember saying that March was going to be a pretty slow racing month for me. Originally, I was only going to race Cool, which I did, and that was it. But then I got this itch, as if a bad fungus was growing on me, and I really wanted to race a criterium.

I've been trying to race in my own category lately, so I've really been trying to only support races that promote a separate W3 race, or at least a race that picks them separately. I've mentioned that getting my ass handed to me over and over by the Pro/1s got really discouraging, so, why not support and race the races that offer a separate race?

On March 24th, I decided to race the Clovis Criterium. This race was far away. As in, near Fresno far. At first I didn't think it was that long of a drive because I have no sense of direction/driving time, but then I looked at my phone and Siri, being the bitch she is, told me it was a three and a half hour drive. I don't like to drive my truck that far because it's a diesel and it costs a lot and I'm cheap, so I posted on my Facebook and asked if anyone was going to this race and if they were willing to take my bike and me. I usually try to behave and not yell in my native language, and although I never promise being successful, I'm usually pretty well behaved. It's as if someone used a shock collar/spray bottle trained me when I was a child.

Eh, where was I?

Right, so this race was a 3/4 race. It was also 30 minutes long and there were hardly any women there for me to get points in the case that I placed. Actually, there weren't enough 3s for me to get any points in the miraculous case that I placed, but whatever, I still went and I raced. Boyfriend did, too. My friend, Ashley, who races SS cyclocross drove us there because she's awesome and I hope to convert her to racing asphalt soon.

Boyfriend raced the Masters 1/2/3 race and kicked everyone's butt. Then I raced, and things were super slow, so I broke away for a while. Got caught after some time, then I broke away with two other girls. The course is a basic rectangle so it's hard to get away, and my sprint has been crap lately so I wasn't able to sprint. After 30 minutes of rectangles, I come home with 3rd place. I won like $25 total that day, so I bought myself something nice (a Chipotle burrito).

It was a fun race. While it was a short racing day, I was happy to see Mary Maroon and support promoters who are helping the W3s keep their hopes up in racing. It gets very discouraging when we race with the Pro/1s right after upgrading. I know a lot of women who simply stop racing after racing as a W3 for a while because it's not worth it.

So, thank you, Back of Nowhere, for supporting women's racing so well. I'll hopefully be able to make the next race!

For those of you interested in these races, the next two in the series are on May 12th and 19th. Click here for more of their info/registration links.